BookBairn is really enjoying playing I-spy at the moment using what she knows about colours to guess. Her favourite is "I spy with my...

Town and Country + Giveaway

Monday, August 21, 2017 BookBairn 25 Comments

BookBairn: Town and Country + Giveaway
BookBairn is really enjoying playing I-spy at the moment using what she knows about colours to guess. Her favourite is "I spy with my little eye something the colour orange?" Anyone able to guess what it is? So when I saw that 'Town and Country' by Craig Shuttlewood had won Best Book for Children (5+) at the Junior Design Awards, it triggered my memory to dig it out and play it with her. (She was just a bit little when it first arrived in our book post and I often stash books away for a little while until she's ready for them. It's no reflection on the book, just BookBairn's readiness to appreciate it.) And now she loves it and want to play the "spotting book" all the time.

One of the magical things about this book is that it's more of a game than a story, making it a great way to interact with your little one. Better than traditional seek-and-find books that we have read, each page features a glossary on illustrations and words for little ones to find hidden in the pictures. BookBairn is too young to read the words herself but I suspect this is a great feature for emerging readers. Instead we play it as an "I spy" type game, which she loves!

And one of the other delightful elements of this book is that it is a 'turnaround book'. Now this isn't something that I had heard of before but now that I know what it is I'm on the lookout for more. Basically it's a book of two halves! You hold the book horizontally and flip the pages upwards the lower page features a countryside scene and the upper page, when you turn it around, shows the town page. You can see in our photographs that it means two children can play in tandem (or a child and her orange bestie lion!). Great for siblings or playmates to play together. You could even do speed challenges to see who can find all their things the fastest.

One of the things I like most about this book is that it is totally appropriate for our lives as we live in a small town on the edge of the wonderful Scottish countryside. We have tractors drive passed our window but also diggers, fire engines and 'town' traffic. We have ducks on the pond at the park as well as cows and sheep in the fields. We can go to the beach to fly our kites or to watch the watersports. This book really compare the two lifestyles but for us it blends them all together and we can relate to both halves!

The illustrations are brilliant and it's no wonder it's been recognised for it's artwork as well as the conceptual design of the 'turnaround'. All the animals have quirky expressions and would make great characters in stories of their own rights and everything is easily recognisable but also appealing to children. The final pages feature a book-long glossary as well as a few extra things to find! And the endpapers were featured in my #EndpapersWednesday feature on our social media as they are pack full of interesting things - and they are bright yellow so delightfully coloured!

So if you like to play "I spy" this is definitely a great book for you and we are delighted to be working with the publisher to giveaway three copies! Details on how to enter are below.

*UPDATE* This competition is now closed and the winner has been notified!
***We have a been sent three copies of this brilliant book to giveaway. If you would like to win a copy of Town and Country please comment below with you guess of what orange thing BookBairn was referring to in our game of I-Spy. (Additional entries will be available so keep an eye out by following us on TwitterInstagram and on Facebook.) UK residents only please. Competition closes 27.8.17.***

Love Mummy and BookBairn x


*DISCLAIMER* I was given our book for free for review purposes, however, all words and opinions are my own



25 comments:

  1. Hahahah I'm guessing the sticker on the front cover!

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  2. The sticker on the front of the book

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  3. I love playing I Spy. Looking forward to playing with BookBairn. My guess is Louis.

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    1. Lovely book and such fun. You might think Louis, I couldn't possibly comment.

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  4. .... or maybe the amber traffic light. I suppose that's two guesses so I'll disqualify myself.

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  5. I would guess Louis the orange lion ��

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  6. Such a clever book! And my guess well her best lion of course :) Thanks for sharing with #readwithme

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  7. Her orange bestie lion. 😊

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  8. I love the look of this book. I hope Lion enjoyed being part of 'I-Spy' too!

    #ReadWithMe

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  9. Vicki Kinninmonth21 August 2017 at 20:55

    I'm going for Louie the lion.

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  10. I guess the orange thing BookBairn spies is Louis the Lion.
    What a lovely looking book. I've never seen a 'turnaround ' book before.

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  11. Louie the Lion

    It's a beautiful book

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  12. Ah we love this book too, it's such a clever idea. #readwithme #kltr

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  13. My guess is the sticker! This book looks great and I love the idea of using it with both my girls at once. Such a unique idea. #readwithme #kltr

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    1. Well done Claire! You are one of our winners - I've sent you a message! x

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  14. The lion? This sounds like a great book. #KLTR

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  15. I am thinking the Lion? looks a fab book!

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  16. This looks like a fab book. We did i-spy with colours before my son learned letters too. Thanks for linking up to #KLTR

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    1. It's a great introduction for them! And really keeps her quiet in the car!

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  17. This books sounds really fun and I like that it is like a game as well as a book. That makes it unique and different. Thanks for linking up to KLTR

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