My Book of Words Review
Reviewed by Rebecca Wong
My Book of Words illustrated by Heather Heyworth from Miles Kelly Publishing instantly grabbed my attention as a parent who is keen to help my three year old boy extend his vocabulary and explore words as much as possible. The cover of the book offers me a cutesy seaside scene that speaks to my little boy and had him pointing at various objects on the picture and telling me what they were. The back cover explains to me that colourful illustrations will really appeal to my little ones and that it is layed out with 1. familiar scenes and objects, 2. simple questions that encourage learning and 3. lots to look at on every page. Already I’m quite interested as we have books of words and word cards already (which are a great hit with my boy) but this book is promising to offer me more.
The first scene is about the home; showing pictures of the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and lounge. The pictures are packed with lots of items featuring the words beside the key items. I tested my son on a few and he enjoyed the process of me picking something new out for him to try to tell me what it might be. He then started to pick things out for himself and even things that weren’t labelled. He showed me how much he recognised and enjoyed when I was pleasantly surprised when he accurately knew the name of something. In addition to the pictures themselves there are some great prompts underneath to help the parent to further challenge their little cherub. ‘What colour are the curtains in the bedroom?’ a simple question but this then prompted a discussion about the curtains in my sons bedroom and also the room in which we were sitting.
The book goes on to explore further items in the garden, on the street, at the park and on the beach as well as looking at family, the body, things that go, picnic food, clothes, shapes and numbers. It’s not just limited to that however, the pictures are jam packed with interesting scenes and details which inevitably stimulate a child’s mind and start some wonderful conversations; all helping to grow and develop their perspective of the world.
Once your little one is ready, the book ends with a little test to find certain items throughout the book. As yet I’ve not been able to get my boy to sit still long enough to do this but I have no doubt that as he gets older we will be able to enjoy and complete it together.
I love this book. It’s exactly what I want as a parent to get my child’s mind doing what it should; exploring and expanding. I know it’s something we will keep revisiting as he loves to look at the pictures and to show me how much he knows. I will also be keeping it for my 8 month old to help her once she starts talking. I highly recommend this to other parents and give it a top marks.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £5.99 (paperback)
Available to buy from Miles Kelly here.
