Maisy Learns to Swim: A Maisy First Experience Book

Good old Maisy. Her adventures tend to be as large or small as the daily activites that children themselves partake in. Appearing in cleverly constructed (and mighty strong) books, Maisy is cheery without ever becoming pendatic. She's light-hearted but never tiring. Maisy is, in fact, the perfect companion for any child beginning to read. She is also a great help to those parents that want their kids to see reading as a fun activity. In this particular Maisy venture, the little white mouse wants to go swimming. The weather outside must be frightful because our heroine is covered from tip to tail in warm woolly winter clothing. It is up to the child reader to remove each article as instructed. So off goes the hat! Open goes the coat. Away goes the sweater, the trousers (love those Lucy Cousins British words), t-shirt, socks, and bright orange underwear. Then the child places the swimsuit onto Maisy and off goes the cheery mousey for a dip in the pool. The book's a treat, no question. Parents reading it to their children had better put the book back together correctly before another reading, however. No child would want to read through a book where Maisy's hat was already off or her swimsuit was already on. That would spoil half the fun. The trick of removing or outfitting Maisy in these articles of clothing come in the book's clever construction. Using thick paper that can stand up to little hands, it's a treat to watch Cousins's thick lined drawings moving up or down. The only part of the book that's a bit flimsy is, sadly the last picture. In theory, if you pull on a specific tab, Lucy goes bobbing along in the water. In practice, she's more likely to get stuck, or the tab may just get pulled out altogether. On the whole however, this a cute creation. Any child who's a fan of Cousins, mice, or just the trick or interacting with a book's character physically will have a ball with Maisy's small scale adventure. A bucket o' fun.

This book is one of my daughter's favorites. She loves manipulating Maisy's clothes over and over again for hours. Great overall book, but I subtracted one star for durability. It could have been made a bit more durable...

As a preschool teacher, I find this book, a great tool to teach and reinforce vocabulary for clothing, as well as colors. The pull tabs also develops fine motor skills for youngsters. Maisy books are the right speed for 2 to 3 year olds. Children also learn about dressing and undressing. This book also rates two thumbs up by my two and a half year old niece.

As each piece of clothing is gradually removed from Maisy, your child will learn about getting dressed and undressed as well as the name of so many items of clothing building up to a fun-filled conclusion on the last page - Maisy actually swims up and down the pool.

My daughter loves Maisy and enjoys this book about Maisy's trip to the pool, but some of the manipulatives are difficult for a three-year old to operate. I would recommend Maisy lift-the-flap books for younger, less dexterous children. Of course, as always, Maisy is cute and interesting.