Caterpillar Books ISBN: 9781848578814 £9.99
Three to five is such a crucial time for children as they try to develop the independence required for starting school. High on the agenda is the need for them to be able to dress themselves, which is where this delightful book comes in, moving on as it does from Hegarty’s earlier introduction to fastenings, Zip It!. Glossy, tactile cardboard pages depict how we need to get dressed to go outside, with illustrated instructions on the left page for the fastening on the clothing of an enlarged picture of an appealing child character on the right hand page. We move from buttons to zips, Velcro, poppers and finally to those tricky shoelaces as we put on more and more layers. There is a sturdy example of each fastening for little fingers to practise on and they appear to be robust enough to withstand multiple attempts. The popper is particularly difficult and requires a lot of pressure, but the words acknowledge this: “You have to push hard, but you can do it!” Brightly coloured thick pages, clear instructions in a good sized font and plenty of encouragement make this very appealing to young children. It would be a useful addition to every Nursery and Reception class.
Sue Barrett
