Busy Bookshop | Tinted Edges

Interactive children’s board book about a bookshop

I picked this up at a local bookstore in Canberra for an absolute song when I took my toddler there one day last year. I’m not sure there is much cuter than a one-year-old browsing a bookshop while holding a handmade bookbag.

“Busy Bookshop” illustrated by Marion Billet is a children’s interactive board book about a bookshop. Each page includes an option to slide a tab or turn a wheel. The children explore books, attend storytime and line up to purchase books at the end.

This is a simple, effective book that capturees a particular type of environment childen (certainly my children!) may experience. It was very appropriate for my toddler when she was just one year old, and she has gotten more and more out of it as she has grown older. The illustrations are simple but effective, capturing a busy environment with a lot of activity and objects. The sliders and wheels are easy to use and very robust under the enthusiastic operation of a toddler’s hands. They reveal different animals and robots within the pages of a book, mimic a pop-up book, simulate turning pages and placing a book inside a shopping bag.

My toddler really enjoys this book and there are lots of ways to make it even more interactive. In addition to reading the rhyming text, we name the animals on the wheel, pretend to scream and roar when the monster is revealed, I blow air on her face when the big bad wolf blows the house down and we talk about exchanging money for the book at the cashier. There is also the added activity of finding the black cat on each page which has become more fun now she is two. She almost always finds new things to talk about within the illustrations.

A really fun book and a great way to get your child excited about reading.