My School Day by Ellen Crimi-Trent

My School Day by Ellen Crimi-Trent
Buy My School Day by Ellen Crimi-Trent at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Louise Jones
Summary: A lovely, bold, interactive book for parents and children to share.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: June 2013
Publisher: Priddy Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781849158534
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The feature that initially attracted me to My School Day was the huge, interactive clock face on the front cover. Learning to tell the time is such an important life skill, but sometimes young children can struggle with the concept. A hands-on approach, combining the senses of sight and touch can be an effective method of teaching. The child is learning through play and having lots of fun at the same time.

My School Day is much more than a simple time-telling book though. It is absolutely packed from cover to cover with activities for parents and children to share together. It covers all of the basics, from numbers, colours, the alphabet and even a little geography and science. In the corner of each page, a small clock face encourages the child to move the hands of the big clock forward as the day progresses.

The format of the book is perfect for the young target audience. It has a chunky, durable cover and the pages are spiral-bound to allow them to be turned easily by little fingers. The book is full of bold images and bright colours which will appeal to children and hold their attention.

I liked the design of the book and the fact that it is a book intended for sharing. Readers are encouraged to search for objects and characters hidden on the pages, to count objects and to discuss what is happening in the pictures.

I had a bit of an issue with the characters themselves, The Schoolies. Although they were visually appealing, drawn with lovely bright colours, didn’t seem particularly memorable or well thought out. It was as if the author was in a rush and decided to just draw lots of random things on the page to fill the space. There seems to be no central theme linking the school pupils in the book; there are cats, owls, worms, insects and even a light bulb called Larry Einstein! There were twenty one of these characters in all. I would have preferred fewer, as it would be very difficult for a child to remember them all.

My School Day is a perfect book for a child just about to start school or nursery, as it features many of the basic curriculum skills and also introduces them to the idea of a structured day. This is a beautiful book and one that children and parents will want to share again and again.

There are many appealing books to help prepare young ones for school. Try The Bear With Sticky Paws Goes To School by Clara Vulliamy or Kipper's A To Z by Mick Inkpen

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You can read more book reviews or buy My School Day by Ellen Crimi-Trent at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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