Fiction Friday - Press Here

       There are so many children's books that I love.  I like the idea of writing about a favorite book each Friday, so I am joining The Teaching Thief's Linky Party.  One of my new favorite books is Press Here by Herve Tullet. It is so simple and yet young children are fascinated by it.  

         On each page the child is directed to follow a simple direction. The first page has one yellow dot and says "Press here and turn the page." The second page  has 2 yellow dots and says "Great! Now press the yellow dot again."  The pages continue like this with different directions to press, rub, shake, tilt, or blow on the page. Each time, the readers are rewarded with some kind of action on the subsequent page. Rubbing the yellow dot may make it change color. Shaking it moves all of the dots around. And blowing on the page just might send all of the dots flying. I guess that in some ways it is like an ipad game, except its made with nice thick paper and relies on children's imagination rather than batteries.

                                                   

         This is my "go to" big sister or brother gift that I give when I am giving a baby gift.  I know the siblings will love the book and that they will get a few minutes of special mommy or daddy (or grandparent) time when they ask to have the book read over and over - and that the adults won't mind rereading it because it's fun for them too :)

        I wasn't sure how the book would work as a class read aloud and whether my 5 year olds (who do play on ipads at home) would be too sophisticated for it and find it too simplistic. I didn't need to worry. They LOVED it!  I read the directions and then followed the directions myself.  By the end of the book they were jumping up and down and cheering because they were so excited. I can't say enough good things about this simple book. I'm thinking I might try to have the kids make their own Press Here books this year.