Let’s Play!

Hervé Tullet

Allen & Unwin, 2016

60pp., hbk., RRP $A22.99

9781760292980

 

If your very young children have not yet discovered the magic of Hervé Tullet, then they have missed out on the most marvellous reading experience for this age group.   This time, Tullet takes the reader and their fingers on an adventure with a yellow dot, following lines, twisting, turning, tip-toeing, making friends with new colours and just having so much fun with their imagination.  Like most littlies, getting started is everything so there is no title page, just an invitation to press here and off they go with the author talking directly to the child as though he were the parent.

This is interactivity through imagination –no bells, whistles, electronics, sound effects or other whizbangery, although there is an enchanting introduction to it on YouTube

It’s fabulous for getting little ones to follow instructions and talk about what happens when they do  They are in charge of their fingers so they are empowered to follow (or not) consolidating that vital message that reading is fun and can be done by anyone.  Even though she is a little old for them now, Miss Just-Turned-5 loved his other books that I gave her – Press Here  and Mix It Up and many times I found her re-telling herself the story and marvelling at her magic finger. Time for another little one to discover the thrill so this is going north to Miss Nearly One.

Cannot praise this imaginative, innovative author too highly for his ability to make the written word delight!