Popposites: An Opposites Pop-Up Book! product reviews

When I first heard about this book I thought this would be perfect for my youngest daughter. At two and a half she loves books which have labels and these are usually her first choice. This book has the huge bonus of being a pop-up book too. I have never met a child that doesn't love pop-ups. I was delighted to find out I won a copy for myself from KIWIreviews.

There were more pages than most pop-ups with a total of eighteen pairs of opposites. Each pair had a single page. One concept was displayed and then the other appeared when you pulled a tab. I know how fragile these types of books can be so I made sure that I was the only one operating the tabs. I was as careful as I could be put found them very stiff especially to return them to the original position. The whole time I was scared I would damage it.

I was disappointed with the book. There were some pictures that didn't seem to me to be the easiest way to explain the concepts to a young child. Beginning and End was depicted with a bulb turning into a flower. Thankfully my feelings didn't stop the kids from enjoying the book. Both of my daughters are disappointed that the book is stored out of their reach and request Mummy or Daddy to read it to them frequently.

We sat down to read the Popposites: An Opposites Pop-Up book this morning just before School. My 5 year old was instantly engaged. The pictures are pretty simple and aren't particularly vibrant in their colour. But that matters very little because this book MOVES.

Each page explores a different opposite, by having one merge into another. So Quiet becomes Loud, or Tidy becomes Messy. This makes it a fun discovery on each page to see what they will use to describe the opposite. There is very little wordage in the book. Essentially two words per page. But this does make it easy enough to read, and frankly we weren't really reading it after the first sitting. We were just moving tabs as directed.

My daughter and I each had favourite pages that we liked the best. I loved the opposites explored, especially Ancient. They are opposites not covered in most traditional pre-schooler opposite books. She, predictably, loved the ones with animals.

This is an extremely clever book. It kept my daughter well engaged for over an hour. She was also then inspired to make her own pop up book. That said, there are some downsides. At $30, its on the pricey side for many parents.

Also after an hour of playing with it, one of the tabs would no longer go back in place. Though I made sure my daughter knew not to force them. I fixed it after she went to school. And the tabs are pretty sturdy. However, I felt a little sick watching my daughter pulling on the tabs, frightened she would break them. Which lessened my enjoyment of sharing it.