Letters: Learning Fun for Little Ones!

I gave this book 4 stars, because, although it's a wonderful book that's really quite unique for all of its combined features, I do wish it were constructed even sturdier, a little less flimsy. This is a crazy busy book chock full of lift-up flaps, touch-and-feels, and movable parts. It's a pretty big book, measuring 9.25" W x 11.5" L, with pages made of cardboard (but not the superthick cardboard of typical board-books; the pages are firm but thin enough to bend, only the cover is thick hard cardboard. From our limited experience, it seems that the DK "my first" books are usually made of thicker harder cardboard and are better constructed than this Scholastic book, but DK doesn't have one like this - SO FULL of many different interactive features!) There are 10 total pages, or 5 full spreads, all filled to the brim with colorful drawings of different sizes. The first page has things starting with the letters A-F; the interactive parts include an elephant with his head popping slightly out of the page, a little book with pages that turn, a fan that pulls down. The next page, G-L, has a helicopter with a rotating propeller, an invitation that opens up, and a leopard hiding behind a lift-the-flap bunch of leaves. You get the idea... Other features include a dragon with shiny scales, an orangutan with a furry touch-and-feel belly, a pop-up pyramid, a tiger hiding behind tall grass, a submarine that pulls up, a yo-yo that pulls down, etc. The final page ends with a giant pop-up zebra whose head literally jumps out of the page. There are lift-the-flaps and a string of hanging cards that show animals from A-to-Z. However, the zebra pop-up, although impressive, is too flimsy and not well-made at all - by simply opening the page to almost 180 degrees (just flat, not overbending it), I (NOT the baby!) caused the neck of the zebra to tear on one side. Since then, I've tried to be extra-careful with this page, but the other side of his neck is starting to tear too. Nevertheless, it's still a great book and one of our favorites. DS gets sooo excited with it, and it is a fun way to start introducing the alphabet and teach first words. Fair warning to all parents though - this book is so "interactive" that the parts will bend or tear very easily for any child (or adult, as above...), so we only read it TOGETHER, and I have to keep a very close watch to keep him from pulling too hard!

This book is really good but we like the Jumbo book of things that Go a little better.

I have now purchased all of the books in this line for my 2 yr old son & they are all wonderful!! I have a vast book collection for my son & these are by far the most interactive!! Superbly done, the creativity put into these books is truly incredible. They are very sturdy books, so even the kids who like to rip & tear (my son) would have a hard time damaging these books. I highly recommend every title in this collection, Shapes, Numbers, Colors, Letters, Dinosaurs, Things That Go, & the Christmas book. You & your little one are sure to love them too!!