It is no secret that we are book lovers. Ashley (My Wife) and Oliver are big fans of ‘The Dinosaur That Pooped….’ Series written by Tom Fletcher and Dougie Pointer from Mcfly. So you can imagine their excitement when Tom Fletcher tweeted that he would be releasing a new book!

I have to be honest, when Ashley first told me about the book I was a little sceptical. ‘That new book by Tom Fletcher, you have to shake and blow to get the monster out…’ ‘WHAT?!How can a book be interactive?!’ I thought to myself. Then it came. The first night Ashley read it to Oliver I couldn’t believe how he took to it.

The basic premise is that there is a monster inside the book. To get the monster out the book explains that you need to shake him out, blow him away, scare him away etc. Eventually he does go away and is released into the room. The book then tells you to call him back, when the monster returns it tells you to tuck him up inside the book and put him to bed and put the book away.

I read the book the second night and Oliver was still as engaged as the night before. Now back to my initial thought, how can a book be interactive? Thinking about it, for any book to be interactive, it needs to be engaging. You need to know and form relationships with the characters and feel you are part of the world the author is trying to create. You can teach children to read books but for them to love books they need to immerse themselves in these worlds. This can be a difficult concept to teach a child, but this is where the book comes into its own!

The genius of this book is that a child doesn’t have to immerse themselves in the world and characters as the world and characters leap out at them. It is an introductory book into the world of possibilities for children. The characters are brought to life with really simple but colourful and effective illustration from Gregg Abbott.

So bottom line is if you are thinking that this book is ‘a little to strange’ for you, give it a go…see what your children think! You may be amazed at how they take to it and really become involved in the book.

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