activities (33) animals (105) art (319) baby (69) board book (716) calligraphy (26) children (150) children's (198) children's books (41) Christmas (150) crafts (151) dinosaurs (57) dogs (26) drawing (63) earth science (25) fiction (146) illustrated (25) interactive (45) juvenile (41) kids (67) non-fiction (125) own (49) picture book (114) science (147) sensory (71) Spanish (35) tactile (71) texture (35) textures (74) That's Not My (54) to-read (80) toddler (48) touch (93) touch and feel (149) touchy-feely (78) transportation (43) Usborne (287) volcanoes (27) weather (41) winter (33)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate: 1960-10-22
Gender: female
Nationality: UK
Country (for map): UK
Birthplace: Dartford, Kent, England, UK
Places of residence: Kent, England, UK
Netherlands
Education: Exeter University (BEd|Art and Design)
Occupations: children's book author

Members

Reviews

That's Not My Tractor by Fiona Watt

First sentence: That's not my tractor. Its trailer is too rough. That's not my tractor. Its wheels are too smooth. That's not my tractor. Its window is too shiny.

Premise/plot: One of the books in the THAT'S NOT MY....series by USBORNE. This one stars a tractor. Each spread features a touch-and-feel element for little ones to experience. The text--as you can see from my "first sentence" is predictable. (Which is not a bad quality for a board book for the youngest of readers). It is patterned.

My thoughts: I have a weakness for touch and feel books. That does not mean I approach them without a critical eye. One of my pet peeves is when publishers try to pass off "shiny" as a texture to touch or feel. I enjoyed this one.

On the one hand this book has the widest variety of textures to those in the series that I've read. On the other hand, several of the textures were not textures at all. SHINY is not a texture you can feel. Neither is sparkly. Smooth is technically a texture--but more a lack of texture perhaps. This one offers "rough, lumpy, and bumpy." Now that I'm analyzing more closely--perhaps this one doesn't have the best variety. Three essentially smooth textures and three essentially bumpy textures.… (more)

Flagged

blbooks | Aug 30, 2024 |

That's not my teddy... by Fiona Watt

First sentence: That's not my teddy. Its nose is too soft. That's not my teddy. Its feet are too rough. That's not my teddy. Its patch is too squashy.

Premise/plot: One of the books in the THAT'S NOT MY....series by USBORNE. This one stars a teddy bear. Each spread features a touch-and-feel element for little ones to experience. The text--as you can see from my "first sentence" is predictable. (Which is not a bad quality for a board book for the youngest of readers). It is patterned.

My thoughts: I have a weakness for touch and feel books. That does not mean I approach them without a critical eye. One of my pet peeves is when publishers try to pass off "shiny" as a texture to touch or feel. I enjoyed this one. The elements to touch (and feel) were good--for the most part.

This board book I'm rating five stars because ALL of the touch and feel elements were solidly good. There were many that I found appealing and fun. I enjoyed the rough feet of the Panda. If the book has a weakness, which I didn't really feel was a deal breaker for me, was the similarity between all of the textures. There were only two textures that offered differences--the "squashy" texture of the patch and the rough texture of the paws (of the Panda). The rest were just variations of "woolly, soft, fuzzy, and furry." Again, I loved all those textures so I didn't find it problematic for me.… (more)

Flagged

blbooks | 3 other reviews | Aug 30, 2024 |

That's not my lion... (That's not my...) by Fiona Watt

Premise/plot: One of the books in the THAT'S NOT MY...series by USBORNE. This one stars a lion. Each spread features a touch-and-feel element for little ones to experience. The text--as you can see from my "first sentence" is predictable. (Which is not a bad quality for a board book for the youngest of readers). It is patterned.

My thoughts: I have a weakness for touch and feel books. That does not mean I approach them without a critical eye. One of my pet peeves is when publishers try to pass off "shiny" as a texture to touch or feel. I enjoyed this one. The elements to touch (and feel) were good--for the most part. My least favorite texture to "touch" was the "shiny" teeth. Shiny is NOT a texture. My favorite texture to touch was the rough texture of the paws.… (more)

Flagged

blbooks | Aug 30, 2024 |

Thats Not My Tiger by Fiona Watt

First sentence: That's not my tiger. Its ears are too fluffy. That's not my tiger. Its paws are too smooth. That's not my tiger. Its tongue is too rough.

Premise/plot: One of the books in the THAT'S NOT MY....series by USBORNE. This one stars a tiger. Each spread features a touch-and-feel element for little ones to experience. The text--as you can see from my "first sentence" is predictable. (Which is not a bad quality for a board book for the youngest of readers). It is patterned.

My thoughts: I have a weakness for touch and feel books. That does not mean I approach them without a critical eye. One of my pet peeves is when publishers try to pass off "shiny" as a texture to touch or feel. I enjoyed this one. The elements to touch (and feel) were good--for the most part. I think the tongue's rough texture could have been rougher if I'm being completely honest. The most satisfying texture to touch (and feel) was the BUMPY texture which represented the tiger's teeth.… (more)

Flagged

blbooks | Aug 30, 2024 |

See More Reviews