Pros: Teaches colour and some of the children like the "feely" part of the book.
Cons: Too short.
The Bottom Line: Touch-feel books have always been fun for my children. This one with a Santa theme is no different. It's excellent for learning colours.
My wife recently picked up a children's book by the name Santa's Suit that was first published in England 2003 with a first Scholastic printing 2004. The publisher Scholastic, CartWheel Books did a fine job of presenting the work of the writer, Kate Lee and artist, Edward Eaves, in the way they used print and colour in this book. The author uses very simple text with Santa talking to himself about his red outfit. It's done in easy-flow rhyme. The illustrator brought forward a series of 12 pictures that showcase Santa as the main character on each 10" x 10" page that is large enough for children to see well but not too unwieldy for lap reading or storage.
The Story
This hard cover and hard paged book brings the reader into Santa's mind as he takes on a personal dilemma. Santa is tired of wearing a red suit every Christmas. He believes he is ready for a change. The author Lee has Santa trying on garments of different colours. Most are tinted in simple primary and secondary colours. Pink and white are brought in too.
Santa in his jolly way puts on clothes of others like a purple coloured royal robe and a pink clown costume. He tries many colours only to find out through some help of Mrs. Santa with a mirror, made so the kids can also use it to see themselves, that red is truly his favorite. References to Christmas Trees and Rudolph's nose are mentioned in the book as examples of colour.
Touch and Feel
This is the hook of the book. Many of Santa's outfits are made of different materials, actual materials that can be touched and felt by children as an adult reads the story.
The book first starts with furry white bits of material that trim Santa's original red suit. The clown's pink costume happens to be a smooth silk-like feeling material and the dark blue suit that Santa notes as "too dark a colour for riding out at night" is corduroy. Children can feel the texture of the vertical ribs.
My Thoughts
The book is made solid so it should last with our grand daughters for a while. All the materials are well attached and should not come apart easily or wear much at all. This is a book that stays at grandpa's home and he reads it to them when they come over.
The book was a one or two time read for my five year old grand daughter. It's too simple for her though I do hope she starts reading it on her own soon. She is recognizing some words. I read it to my 16 month old grand daughter and she's still to young to understand the concept of "feeling". She would go to touch but is not cognizant of different textures from what I can tell. She is interested in looking at the pictures as grandpa reads the story.
Update Nov 11th
This is just a few days after my first few reads of this book with my 16 month grand daughter. Now she brings the book to me and everytime I turn a page she reaches and rubsher hand on the material. I'm amazed how she just suddenly "got it"!
...end update...
This book happens to fit my three year old grand daughter, "just right!" This is interesting and fun to her. She likes feeling the different materials and it also is helping her get her colour recognition down solid.
All in all it's a good book, that my wife found discounted from $10.99 to $6.99, and has kept my middle grand daughter's interest. I do know that my youngest grand child will be ready next year and my daughter now has another baby on the way. She still hasn't told me the sex even though she has known it a week now. Our family has had six straight girls. I'm sure I'll find out soon but boy or girl this baby should be ready for the book in a couple of years and grandpa will hopefully be able to read it to him/her at that time.
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