Pairs Underwater by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Lorna Scobie
| Pairs Underwater by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Lorna Scobie | |
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| Category: Children's Non-Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Zoe Morris
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| Summary: A fun memory game in the form of a lift-the-flap book, this has an underwater theme. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 12 | Date: February 2017 |
| Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1847808820 | |
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Following on from Pairs in the Garden by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Lorna Scobie, comes the aquatic themed Pairs Underwater. It's a lift-the-flap book with the added twist of a game of Memory thrown in, as you try to match the pairs across each double page spread.
On each page you're looking for creatures you find under the sea – like crabs, seahorses, turtles and squid. There are three pairs to match up, and one bonus creature without a twin, to keep you on your toes. Within the fish section, the best one is definitely the spotty one. He doesn't need to come with a friend. Looking like he's been dipped in Smarties probably makes him very popular.
There are lots of sea creatures but within this book we do recycle a few. Starfish, for example, get their own page of pairs but they also crop up on the crab page where they drift around between the flaps, and we're asked to see how many we can count. It's a nice way to introduce repetition of names and terminology without repeating the game.
I do like lift-the-flap books, for entertainment factor alone. I trialled this with a 3 year old but unlike Pairs in the garden I didn't give it a pre-read. This meant she had to do the first lift of the flaps and they seemed a bit tough for little fingers, so I'd recommend going through first and giving them a loosening tug to ease frustrations. After they are initially released, it's no problem to lift them, peek underneath, and then lower them again. The never go quite flat again, but it's not a problem and the pressure of the sturdy pages helps weight them down a little.
There is limited text with this book, but what is there is in rhyme format which is always a winner, and it helps set the scene on each page if you read aloud to them before they start to lift and look and find and match. The illustrations are bright and colourful, too.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending us a copy to review. It's fun and will be well played with in the weeks and months to come, now those pesky flaps have been warmed up a bit. All books are useful for language, but this one also tests memory and promotes dexterity, and for that reason it's a good all rounder.
For more seaside fun, Beside the Sea (Melrose and Croc) by Emma Chichester-Clark is charming.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Pairs Underwater by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Lorna Scobie at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Pairs Underwater by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Lorna Scobie at Amazon.com.
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