The Princess and The Pickle: New Releases from Priddy Books

Last week we received a lovely bag full of books to review from Priddy Books. I’d barely opened the parcel and The Pickle was already eyeing up the contents – he loves books! The Princess loves reading too, as soon as she gets home from school her daily reading book is out and we all sit on the sofa while she reads to me and her brother. She also reads independently in bed each night before she goes to sleep. Books for young children are great, especially ‘fun’ books which encourage learning through brightly coloured pictures or interactive features. So I was almost as excited as the kids when this wonderful selection arrived!

Bright Baby Touch and Feel Seasons, £14.99

This is a box set of four board books introducing baby to each different season. Spring contains fluffy lambs and bright daffodils, Summer contains sandy beaches and colourful butterflies, Autumn has a soft furry squirrel and a glistening leaf and Winter has a sparkly snowman and bumpy snowflake. Each book has a lovely variety of colourful photos, drawings and textures to keep baby amused.

The Pickle enjoys looking at these books, they are just the right size for him to be able to pick up and turn the pages easily by himself. He particularly likes the squirrel although he does occasionally try to eat it! The books are very robust and have a single word on each page, which is perfect for toddlers.

The box set would make a lovely Christmas gift, especially as the snowman picture is featured on the back of the box.

Cheeky Monkey Cloth Book, £6.99

This cloth book contains bright, bold animal pictures including a crocodile, giraffe and parrot, along with a short rhyming sentence on each page to read to baby. The front page is crinkly and has textures to explore.

This book is very appealing to young babies because of the bright colours, particularly the contrasting black, white and red. The Pickle enjoyed looking and pointing at the bold, simple pictures and he loved the crinkly cover, although it would be nice to have some interactive features and textures inside the book as well as on the cover. He enjoys pointing to each picture and I say the animal’s name or the sound it makes – he finds my “rooooaaaarrrr” particularly amusing! This would make an ideal gift for a newborn baby.

Fruit Cake, £12.99

This is a fun and unusual look at the English language, using phrases associated with fruit such as ‘Big Apple’ and ‘Lemonade’.

I love this book! It’s bright, bold and lots of fun. The interactive sliders, wheels and flaps keep The Princess entertained and the book has helped her to see that some words can have different meanings. The Pickle is also fascinated with this book and I may have to buy him his own copy so The Princess is able to read hers in peace!

Animal A-Z, £7.99

This book is packed full of facts about various animals, including some unusual animals I’d never heard of before, such as a Quetzal (a brightly coloured bird which the currency of Guatemala is in fact named after!)

The Princess loves learning new facts, particularly about animals, so this is a great book for her! She is also just at the right age to be able to read this by herself and was soon quizzing me on various animal facts – all of which she knew more about than I did! The book is very colourful, with a large photo on each page, which makes it more appealing to young children and encourages them to read and to learn. A diagram at the top of each page shows how large each animal is in proportion to a human. It has a glossary at the back which explains what some of the more complex words mean. This is a great resource for children in their first years at school.

These titles from Priddy Books are very well written and designed, keeping the little ones entertained for ages! I was also pleased to read on their website that their books are made from a combination of recycled paper and paper from sustainable forests, and printed with soy ink. They are also committed to product safety, which is good to hear when you have a little monster like mine who just wants to try and eat everything in sight!