Lulu's Shoes by Camilla Reid and Ailie Busby
| Lulu's Shoes by Camilla Reid and Ailie Busby | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Magda Healey
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| Summary: A chunky board book for toddlers with inventive interactive features, this comes recommended for girls - and particularly the ones with shoe-holic mums. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 16 | Date: May 2008 |
| Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0747594031 | |
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If one of the key female traits is a love of shoes, I am certainly a traitor to my gender: I live in crocs, bare feet are even more preferable and the idea of a shoe-cupboard fills me with dread rather than anticipation.
And still, I liked Lulu's Shoes. It's a board book for toddlers: chunky pages, very little text, simple illustrations without too much detail and, as the subtitle of utterly fabulous interactive book promises, the interactive part.
Touchy-feely books are very popular with toddlers and their parents - I couldn't quite grasp the reason at first (my daughter never was interested in the textures for touching and just looked at the pictures) but now I understand the attraction as my son, not yet two years old, loves them. Lulu's Shoes is not just a touchy-feely book, though: each page has a different pair of shoes (all, obviously, belonging to Lulu) and, in addition to the normal textures, they offer a few more ways of interacting: the Mary Janes have a Velcro buckle that can be really closed, the winter boots - real laces that could be tied, and there is even a lift-the-flap surprise at the end.
Toddlers are fascinated by shoes, they learn how to take them off often, and they love trying on ones belonging to adults and older children (well, at least mine does!): maybe it's association with the excitement of going out, or just that they are interesting objects in themselves. Lulu's Shoes taps into this fascination very well, and, although it is pink and girly, the illustrations, which are fairly modern (a bit similar to Lauren Child's style), make it quite acceptable even to this reviewer with a moderately strong anti-pink streak.
I would give Lulu's Shoes more stars if it wasn't such an incredibly gendered book: I feel that the wink towards shoeholic grown-ups was over the top (now I think about it, the style of the artwork is somehow similar to chick-lit book covers) and it means that many little boys, as fascinated by shoes as little girls, will miss on a chance of playing with this.
Still, a nice addition to a toddler selection and recommended - especially if you love shoes yourself and have a little girl.
The review copy was end to the Book bag by the publisher - thank you!
There series continues with Lulu's Clothes. If you like the sound of this but have a slightly older child, you might also like Charlie and Lola and The Man Who Wore All His Clothes.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Lulu's Shoes by Camilla Reid and Ailie Busby 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 Lulu's Shoes by Camilla Reid and Ailie Busby at Amazon.com.
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