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I applied to review this book for the main reason the word back written backwards caught my eye and I really wanted to know what it was about. I enjoy getting children's books to read with my kids without knowing 100% what it is about first as its a surprise for us. I got approved to do some reviews and didn't know which books I got and in the mail this turned up. I read it on my own as it really took my eye with BOB doing cartwheels.

It's a very clever book with so much learning going on without knowing you are learning - even at 28 I was learning more. It started off with easy words that Bob knew and liked, and words that made another word when going backwards. Then it started talking about palindromes - I'm glad it gave an explanation in the book while reading cause for the life of me I didn't actually know what that word meant. I'm pretty sure I have come across it before but it's not a word I use in every day talking so not one I would actually remember. Again there were a few words I have no idea what they meant or could say correctly.

Bob started off giving words that are a palindrome and his mum and dad chime in with more words. So many words that I didn't even know were the same when read backwards, guess you learn things all the time and every day something different. I love the fact that just because a word doesn't read the same backwards doesn't mean it should be a lost word and they give off some long fancy words. Again some I've never heard of. Lucky there is a glossary at the back of the book to help.

My 5 year old saw the book and asked if she can read it and off she went. I could hear her reading it and all the BIG words she yelled them as she has been taught at school those words need to be shouted. She got stuck on the big words but just skipped them and carried on reading. Afterwards we sat down and reread the book explaining to her at the same time. She loved this book and wanted to read it again and again on her own.

The only downfall I had was the capital letters for a whole word as I find it hard to read them when they are really big, but I understand why they were used that way, it actually shows the words are the same front and back. But I did manage to read them, just not as fast. I believe this is a great book for those that enjoy learning new things which is most children and adults. Once finished my daughter saw that there is another book in the set called "Punctuation mark" and she wants that one now too. Sadly I wouldn't be able to afford the price of this book as my limit is about $15 on books and if I can would prefer to get it cheaper on my budget. Depending on the person I might get it as a gift for a child that I know would really be into it.

I was very happy to receive this to review to be honest I hadn't read the blurb description about the book so didn't know what it was about but the cover drew me in. It is very cleverly illustrated with words going backwards and a somersaulting bob, made it seem really appealing. Well the book itself is all about words or more specifically Palindromes or words that read the same forwards and backwards. This proves to be quite educational even if at times a bit of a mouthful.

Bob starts talking about the Palindromes he knows like Bob, and Mum and Dad and mum and dad throw in ones they know too which makes for very educational reading. Bob even thinks of some whole sentences which read the same backwards and forwards which I thought was very very clever and was amazed at how it was done. The author is definitely very clever coming up with all of these. At my son's age (2) the educational content is a bit over his head so he wasn't really interested in the book, but I know when he is older he will enjoy it too so we will hold on to it for him to 'grow into'.

The other special thing about this book is how cleverly it is illustrated so the words are sometimes illustrations or you can find cleverly hidden words within the illustrations. It makes reading quite fun as you see the big letters or small letters pop out from the page. The illustrations while simple are cheerful and quite fun and the pale yellow colour of the pages makes it easy to read.

I really enjoyed this book and my 12 year old read it and tried thinking of Palindromes of her own so definitely still appeals to older children as well. Would be quite a cool book to have in a classroom for word play activities. There is quite a list of palindromes allready mentioned but would prove quite a good starter for classroom activities. I could think of one or two more palindromes not mentioned in the book.

There are other words mentioned in the book that aren't palindromes but are what Bob and his parents think are cool words like Bombastic, Gargantuan which prove to be quite a tongue twister if you are reading too quickly. At the back of the book is a little glossary of these words used and their definition which is quite neat as they are quite unusual words. All in all a great little book full of learning in a fun way.