Bums & tums, a lift the flap book about animals illustrated by Mandy Foot

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Lothian, 2015. ISBN 9780734415950
(Age: 3-5) Warmly recommended. Animal parts, Rhyming story. A question is posed on each page, answered by the picture and writing beneath the flap which will be eagerly lifted by a young reader. The question, 'Who likes the beach and can live for a hundred years?' reveals a sea turtle beneath the flap, with a large picture filling the double page. The simple question contains words which will engender discussion between the adult and child reading the book, and the younger person will learn information about world wide animals as they read. I'm pleased that the sentences do not patronise the reader, using words like especially, hundred, bellybutton and stylish.
Children will love to predict the rhyming word at the end of the next sentence as well as guess what animal is being spoken of. In a class this could be used as a model for children's writing, learning about rhyming words as they read this humorous story.
Lift the flap books have a notoriously short shelf life, so this book will teach younger readers how to use books such as these with care.
Fran Knight

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