Sunday, August 19, 2018

Press Here Hardcover by Herve Tullet (Chronicle Books)



One thing's for sure - after purchasing this book for our grandson (which I understand has not spent a day just sitting on the bookshelf!) - I'll be purchasing more books by this innovative and multi-talented author, Herve Tullet. I'd read an interview with him that discussed what he tries to achieve when writing a children's book - "the idea that adults and children should collaborate with the book together, the element of surprise, the connection between abstract and concrete concepts..." In this neat book, he achieves what he sets out to do... it allows your child to feel like a magician, assisted by nothing more than yellow, red and blue dots!

Beginning with a simple yellow dot your child presses (which "magically" - via your child pressing it - responds by turning into two yellow dots on the second page), the amount of dots, colors, patterns and sizes of the dots change as the book progresses, with a child learning the meaning of pressing, turning, rubbing, tapping, shaking, tilting, blowing, along with varying degrees of movement (gently, a little bit, a little bit more, hard, a little bit harder, really hard) - and direction (left, right, up, down). Love the fact that the cover is SO thick - allows for all of that manhandling!

Throughout, your child is cheered on with words like "Great! Perfect! Well done! Fabulous! Excellent!" as his/her actions appear to create the "magic" happening on each page. Toward the end, your child will be clapping to make the dots larger and larger and LARGER until finally that original one yellow dot (with a white hole in the center) is taking up the entire two page spread... at which point your child's encouraged to "Quick, press the white dot", with the final page showing the original yellow dot and saying, "Bravo! Want to do it all over again? Back to the beginning. This way..." with an arrow. This is really an energizing, just PERFECT little book for engaging your child in a fun way, especially if you let your own self be a kid again and "oooh" & "aaah" at the magic (but with all of the clapping at the end, 56 pages long and the encouragement to do it all over again, more suited for daytime rather than a bedtime read!)

I really like the clean look of this book - its brilliance is in its simplicity... stretching a child's imagination while teaching concepts of movement in such a magical way. Reminded me of an amazing college-aged aunt we had who never stopped being a kid herself, whom we would swarm around as she would make the simplest activities seem magical - thought of her as I read it, wondering if perhaps Mr. Tullet knew my Aunt Mary? ;-) Herve Tullet does a terrific job, and I found it well worth the imprinted $15.99 price.

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