Welcome to my first children's book review! I have been wanting to do this for a while, as I found it is sometimes quite hard to find the right book for your child. Most of the books that are sold in Hong Kong's book stores are sealed in plastic for hygiene reasons. I completely appreciate and respect that, however, you are literally judging a book by its cover and the summary on the back. (Which to be honest...don't tell you much.) You can ask the sales to open the plastic cover for you, so you can have a look inside, but I do feel bad each time when I don't end up buying the book because I know it isn't suitable for Joshua.
With online book stores, I have also found the same problem. You have plenty of different titles to choose from, which is great, but yet again, you are basing your decision on the cover, the summary, and people's review, and you don't get to read the content of the book before buying it. Sometimes, you do get a preview of a page or two, which is great, so at least you get a sense of the book, but that is not always an option.
I have been lucky enough to be gifted some from companies and given some from my friends. The rest I bought based on friend's recommendations (after I had a chance to read through theirs), or based on the cover in bookstores and online. (Which some of them I have regretted getting.)
That is why I wanted to start a Children's book review section, and show you what the book is like inside, so you can decide whether this book is suitable for your child.
For my first book review, I wanted to start off with a personalized book from Mind Matter. Mind Matter gifted me this book to prepare us and Joshua for the next chapter of our lives, becoming a Big Brother.
I found this book very useful for both Joshua and myself. Joshua loves it because it is personalised for him. He loves seeing himself in the book, I remember the first time I read it to him, all he wanted to do was point at every picture of himself. (Which is on every page! LOL) This is one of Joshua's favourite book, and I pretty much read it to him every day. At first, he didn't understand the concept of becoming a big brother, but after reading the book over 100 times, I think he has finally grasped the idea. I think when the baby arrives, it will still take him some time to adjust, but at least he seems to be showing more interest in the bump now.
As a parent, I found this book useful because it has a very helpful guide at the back of the book written by Dr. Anna Symonds, who is a Child Psychologist. She gives you tips and guidance on how to handle this transition. As new parents, it can be very overwhelming and you don't always know where to start. That is why I found this section great because it gave me an understanding and a realistic expectation of how Joshua would be through this transition.
If you want to find out more, and see what the book is like on the inside, please check out my IGTV video, where I read to Joshua, so if get you a sense and feel of what Mind Matter books are like.
Mind Matter offers a lot of other books with different topics that your child might be facing, such as: I stay safe online, My family is multicultural, I care for the planet, I don't hit, and many many more.
I hope you enjoyed my first book review. I will be uploading more of Joshua's favourite books for you to see. If you have a book that you hightly recommend, I would love to know, as I am always looking to get Joshua more books.
Sending you love & positive thoughts,
Christine xxx
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