Home > Categories > Books > Kids - General > Planes review
Children love machines. The Machines and Me series of four simple, well written stories has a bold, clean illustration style perfect for the target age group by the award-winning author and illustrator Catherine Foreman. Any little aviators-in-training will love this title.
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I got this book from a competition I entered and I gave it to my daughter as a gift. First she said "I don't like reading books I likes coloring books" After sometime I read it to my 18 month old daughter. I show her the actions that the plane goes up, down, round and round. She started to imitate me and tried to say the word "round and round" by moving her finger around. And whenever she takes the book again she turned that page and did the action.
I thought my five year old daughter will not like to read the book as she does not interested in machines but she started to read the book. She read it as a song with actions and added some words as it goes with her rhythm. Then after I had to sing with her as she sang. We could learn opposite words and new vocabularies. While reading the book she had the question "why?" so that I had to answer for them.
I like the blue colour Catherine Foreman has selected as it feels like the sky and the letters and illustration looks like real hand work. I hope this book is for 4-6 year children to read by themselves or any parent to read for their children. Though I got it for free it was so much valuable and enjoyable for me and my children. This planes book will be flew to my country to be read by my 6 year old nephew who likes the planes more.
Board books are well liked in our family and I don't believe that they should only be used for very young children. I find that this book is an ideal size for my children to hold while reading on their lap or in the car. Being in this sturdy form also means that it is a great book to put in your bag and be read in many places. I was keen to review this book as at present we are looking for books that interest both our 2 year old and 5 year old. I felt planes was definitely a topic that they would both be able to relate to but also may learn something new.
Catherine Foreman has produced a very clever book with simple but effective illustrations. She has used bold bright colours and shows movement such as the propeller to connect the reader. I like how this is a simple story but holds a lot of information, rhyme and opposites. The print is in a very readable form, like it has been handwritten. I did find a few of the pages background colours did not let the writing stand out which made it hard to read as a bed time book in dimmer light.
This book has bought a lot of joy to my boys. My 2 year old really enjoyed this book and was keen to talk about the many different planes. It has given him many new words in his vocabulary to describe things. My five year old quickly took to reading this book to his brother. What I liked the most was listening to him giving more information to his brother, just like I do when I read to my boys. I think this is a very well priced book and will be buying this for other kids in the future.
Miss 4 is very interested in modes of transport at the moment. She loves to read anything about trains, buses, trucks but has had very little exposure to planes. I personally hate flying, and so we haven't taken her in a plane yet. Though her big sister has been on many flights.
I handed Miss 4 this book last week, and she quickly took to carrying it everywhere while she was home. She got me to read it at night, and a house guest read it several times too. Even her big sister sat and read it to her a couple of times. This was great, because it gave her a chance to practice her reading, while little sister got to see her hero working out the words too.
The font in this book is good. It's large and it uses a good 'a' for early readers. It looks a bit like tidy hand-written printing. I did find the black on blue occasionally a bit difficult to read, but it might have been the lighting rather than a fault of the book. The illustrations are bright and colourful. The drawings are simple, but have some good detail. I liked that when it talks about the propeller, you can see the faded propellers showing the movement. The planes look hand-drawn. So they aren't perfect, but it adds to the overall charm of the book.
After getting this book, Miss 4 is more excited about the idea of flight. She pretends to be a plane on our walks and has drawn a few planes herself. It's a great book and would suit any little person. Though it would be an excellent gift to a child who is going for a plane trip in the future and might need some comfort about the trip. I'm just bracing myself for her next question; "When do we get to go on a plane, mummy?"
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"Computer games don't affect kids. I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."
Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989