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Let’s Play! by Herve Tullet – Book Review

Erin Leave a Comment

Let's Play!ABOUT THE BOOK: Let’s Play *

Author: Hervé Tullet
Published by: Chronicle Books (Translated from the original French)
Released: March 2016
Ages: 3 – 6
RaisingMom.ca Rating:
****Starred Review! 4.5 out of 5 Stars****

Order from Chapters/Indigo,  Amazon.ca or Amazon.com*

From the Publisher:

“It’s only a yellow dot…but what a dot it is! Readers won’t be able to resist this jaunty, adventurous dot, nor its invitation to play along. Thus begins a spectacular ride of color, motion, shape, and imagination, filled with the artistry and delight that we know and love so well from Press Here and Mix It Up! But on this journey, prepare to leap headlong into a completely new dimension: emotion. Connecting not only to the mind but also to the heart, this dot expresses an extraordinary sense of humor, fear, joy, and more as it pushes, lurches, wiggles, and slides its way through—and even off!—the pages of this glorious companion to Press Here and Mix It Up! ”

Description:

This is the epitome of an interactive book without a digital connection, though it mimics the feel and function of a touch screen device.  Fun and whimsical play are both the goal and result of reading this book.  It is even fun for adults, if you let yourself get lost in the magic! As in his previous books, Tullet has created an artistic triumph.  The yellow dot weaves and swoops its way across expanses of white, Jackson Pollack-like pages, dark caves, splashes of colour and playful interaction with dots of other colours. It will evoke emotional responses from even the youngest of readers, as the dot encounters both fun and scary surroundings and expresses delight, fear, and disgust in turn.  This book invites any reader, regardless of gender, race or age to follow the yellow dot for an adventure!

My Experience:

My almost 3-yo loved the interactive nature of this book. We have read it 10+ times and she is still asking for it.  She is on the younger end of the spectrum in terms of intended audience, but still got a lot out of it.  It took her a few pages to “get” that she was to be tracing/following the path of the “dot”, but she quickly caught on.  We had some amazing hand/eye coordination practice as she traced the swoops. She had trouble with the concentric circles the first few times (completely tracking the line), but as we demonstrated and practiced with her, she got it.  The first time she encountered the “cave”, she was frightened, but didn’t want to stop the adventure, when we asked her.  She announced that she would be “brave with the yellow dot” and carried on. We had several discussions about the emotions the dot was feeling, and how the page(s) made my daughter feel.  On each subsequent travel through the cave, she approached it with eagerness! She loved the invitation at the end to come back and play some more, and we have, gaining new insights and discovering new ways to have fun each time.

Likes:

  • straddles the line between reading and play. Great literacy resource for struggling/emerging readers!
  • love the use of white space. pages are not cluttered and vary
  • practice of tracing and hand/eye coordination is great for toddlers
  • invitation to return to try again

Dislikes (not many!):

  • the all-caps font may be hard for early readers who are not used to this to navigate for independent reading
  • potentially confusing first couple of pages for those not familiar with Tullet’s previous work

Why/How Use it with kids:

  • numeracy practice: count the coloured dots on the pages with multiple dots.  How many of each colour?, etc.
  • hand-eye coordination – tracing/following the path of the “dot” as it swoops and swirls is great practice for younger kids
  • create your own book (kids) – create a shape and a path for it to follow over several pages.  What would your journey be? What will your shape encounter?
  • in a classroom, would be great to use on an interactive white board or with a document camera and have students follow the dot in turns or groups
  • for read aloud, excellent opportunity to practice expressive reading
  • great for predictive reading questions (I wonder what will happen next, etc.)
  • exploration of the action words (verbs) in the story.  Think of some more action words that would work to substitute    Let's Play full page

The publisher has created a guide for teachers, and parts of it have great ideas for parents to use, too! Find it here

About the Author:

Hervé Tullet was born in Normandy in 1958 and currently divides his time between New York and France.  He studied Fine Arts and Decorative arts. Known for being extremely versatile, he has directed ad campaigns and designed fabric for Hermès.  His real love is working with children.  He broke into the North American children’s book market a few years ago with the best-selling picture book, Press Here. 

~Erin

Order from Chapters/Indigo, Amazon.ca or Amazon.com*

*Affiliate Links – see disclosure page

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Children's Book Reviews, Picture Books (Ages 2 - 6), Starred Reviews children, color, colour, colours, fiction, imagination, Picture Book, play, Starred Review

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