Matthew Van Fleet's books are some of our favorites around here -- they're all interactive, with lots of different materials to touch, flaps to lift, tabs to pull, etc. The pictures are cute, and the text is fun. Eleanor (who is almost 5) still loves them, and Juliet (16 months), is obsessed.
We bought Heads
and Tails when Eleanor was a baby - they're pretty similar, but about opposite ends of the animal! Tails is a little better if you have a kid who likes to rip books apart, because there are a few less flaps. But I think Heads is more fun (because of the same reason).
For Christmas we gave Juliet Dog
, which she is completely obsessed with. Unlike Heads and Tails (which feature bright illustrations), Dog has real pictures of tons of cute (and occasionally odd-looking) dogs. I'm pretty sure I've read this about 300 times since Christmas.So when I spied some on sale at Costco, I grabbed Moo
for Juliet for Valentine's Day. Moo is like Dogs, with pictures of real animals - although it features a wide array of farm animals. Eleanor loves the page with the "piggyback ride" - where several small farm animals are perched on a pig's back.
Because we love Matthew Van Fleet books so much, I contacted Simon & Schuster and asked them to send me a few books for review. They sent me Cat
, which is pretty self-explanatory - a whole book about cats! There are some weird-looking cats - what is up with those hairless ones?! - but some are also cute and cuddly types. Juliet isn't super into this one - probably because her level of dog-obsession is so high. I think if you're a cat family, you'd love it.
The other book they sent me for review is super awesome. It's called October the Octopus
and it's a book about months. The book is a stuffed octopus, making it cute and huggable. Both girls have been really entertained by it.
If you're looking for some great book-gifts for the kids in your life, you can't go wrong with Matthew Van Fleet books! And in fact, Simon & Schuster has agreed to give one of you October the Octopus too!
If you leave a comment on this post saying which is your favorite of the titles I reviewed, you'll be entered to win an October the Octopus of your own! On 3/2/15 I'll randomly choose a commenter, and contact you for your mailing info.
Note: I bought all but two of these books with my own money! My opinions are my own. The links are my affiliate links. Simon & Schuster agreed to give one of you a book too because they're nice.
