This Is My Digger - Jessica Greenwell > Reviews (2)

"This is my digger" is a book that my four year old picked from the library selection. I knew immediately why he plumped for this one... it has a noisy button in the corner and for preschoolers, noise always seems to be attractive. Not so for mummies, but hey, we don't get much choice in the matter! So long as he is reading and enjoying the experience, I'm happy with that.

Guilty of judging the book by its cover, I was not overly excited at the prospect of reading it. But it turned out to be an enjoyable little story and for a four year old it was clear and easy to understand. There was also plenty of interaction as there were some textured areas on each page. It is a board book, so it is very sturdy. Always a bonus in my opinion.

This book is from the Usborne Noisy Touchy-Feely range. It is not one that I have been familiar with, but I would certainly try it again after our experience with "This is my digger." The noisy button in the corner makes the sound of a digger shoveling and it has the words "And it goes Brrrmmm". To me, I think it sounds more like a bit of white noise rather than a Brmmm, but my little boy happily pushed the button at the end of each page. He's mature enough now to know to wait until the end of the page to push the button. His sister would press it randomly if I were reading it to her.

Each double page spread features a sentence about what the digger does and illustrates this very well too. The illustrations also include interesting textures as I mentioned before. The bucket for example is a spongy silver foam. The digger tracks are a corrugated cardboard and the arm of the digger is a shiny yellow plastic. These are very good for holding the child's interest. Also, the way in which the sentence is broken down, allows for plenty of explanation about the action. I can stop at any point on the page to explain something and pick up again without any trouble. For example, one double page spread includes the sentences "This is my digger. It has... (Image) Crawler Tracks. It bumps and bounces... (image) ... over lumpy ground" so as you can see there are plenty of gaps that allow some chat with the child.

The button in the corner is very easy to push. Our toddler can do it with ease, however she is not as interested in this book as the four year old. I think if you have a child who loves building and diggers then they will love this book. The illustrations are very sweet and there is lots going on to keep them involved. There are also other books in the range such as "This is my puppy" "This is my Kitten" "This is my Duck" "This is my Monster and "This is my dinosaur" so there is certainly something in the range that will suit your little one.

I would recommend this as a read for 3/4 year olds. It's maybe a little too simple for older children but it is certainly a good book for preschoolers.