Who would have thought you would get so much out of a book with no words. In fact, I’ve already used more words writing this review than there are in the book. However I didn’t ask to review this book because it was only eight pages long and it therefore would only take me no more than a week to read it. No, I had better reasons. My first son was born in February and as with all first time dad’s I am completely besotted in my youngster, plus I’m willing to do anything to entertain my offspring.
At first I was skeptical. Junior barely pays any attention to the rugby, why would he be interested in a book? Well, I guess it just goes to show how much a dad knows about babies. So much so that most of the information in this review is courtesy of my amazing wife and I have just made it sound like it’s from me.
Junior is four months old and becoming very aware of his surroundings. He loves faces and loves when people engage with him. My first hurdle to overcome was figuring out how to get a baby to hold a book… they tend to not really be into that sort of thing. Conveniently next to our change table is another table where we put the book. We can get on with the less pleasant side of child rearing, whilst he gets on with learning.
From the moment we put the book within his view he was fixed on to it. He would stop looking around the room and bam, he was locked on to it. As interested as he was with the book he didn’t have much to say about it.
As to what he is actually learning, ah… well, hmm. Focus is important. I once dabbled in school teaching and the kids that could focus were the clever ones. The ones down the back counting the holes in the ceiling tiles or eating the lead based paint, you can be sure they weren’t the focused ones. As to what those kids were given to read at four months old, well I guess that’s a subject for debate.
If you don’t have any kids, then you probably aren’t won’t be reading this, but it’s a great book to give those incredibly annoying friends of yours who are constantly posting pictures of their baby on Facebook. They will get a kick out of it for sure.
REVIEWER: Drew Thompson
TITLE: Baby’s World of Play: A Kiwi first focus book
PUBLISHER: Penguin Random House