In The Night Garden: Everybody Loves the Pinky Ponk! by Andrew Davenport Review
Reviewed by Rebecca Wong
True to form and as expected this book is colourful and inviting for any small child. However, what I didn’t expect was the level of interactivity that resulted when I sat down with my 2 and a half year old to read it. As a parent I was happy with the quality, nice sturdy thick boarded pages that my spirited boy will find hard to bend or destroy. There are sound bite buttons to the right of the pages which are clear and recognisable as those we all know and love from the TV series. The book is split out in tabs, along the top, according to the different characters featured in the book.
My sons face lit up when he saw the book but he was truly happy once he started pressing the buttons and he recognised instantly what each sound was. The story is simple in the spirit of In the Night Garden but as you go along pictures depict which buttons to press to complement the words. At first I thought this wouldn’t mean much to my son, but within minutes he’d picked out those pictures and I challenged him to press the matching button – which, to my delight he did. So not only was this a light-hearted and entertaining story for him but a great way to interact and challenge him on matching pictures up or identifying buttons for each character.
Needless to say, after our first run through of the book before bed, he insisted I go back to the beginning and start again. It was also the first thing he asked for in the morning once he awoke and I’m yet to see it leave his side. He is definitely a fan and I can see us reading it again and again in the future. As a mum who is constantly encouraging my son’s appreciation of books I look to provide him with variety and I felt that this book encouraged a level of interactivity that I didn’t expect when I first looked through it myself.
I would definitely recommend this to other parents, fans of the In the Night Garden series can expect to hear familiar sounds and also learn other skills along the way.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £10.99 (Board Book)
Suitable age: 0-4 years
Available to buy from Amazon here.
