Fix It! (Helping Hands)

This series of books is oddly hard to search for -- as a tip, search for Georgie Birkett and Jess Stockham to find all of them that I've turned up so far; searching just for Helping Hands brings up mostly unrelated books.The series as a whole is fantastic -- all the books have diverse characters even in the background, nontraditional families and gender roles, often pictures of urban life that feel modern, and kids doing interesting and real activities that they may actually do. I do note that these books aren't a straightforward read, because there's relatively little text for a lot of stuff happening on the page, and the text has no markers to tell you who's talking. When I read these to my daughter, I spend a lot of time talking about what's happening on the page and explaining, rather than just reading the text. I like that, but I suggest taking a look at the preview if you're not sure if that's for you.This particular book is one of my and my daughter's favorites in the line -- it's not just about fixing broken toys up, there's also a nice section where the little girl and her family build a toy box from scratch, going to the hardware store, buying wood, drilling holes and hammering. The girl has a nice toy tool chest and gets to play along with the process.

I love the idea behind this series: "Fix it" "Cook it" etc. The illustrations are so much fun, and there just aren't books out there for this age that illustrate these kinds of life skills. The part that is disappointing is the writing. I don't think all kids' books needs to rhyme, but when reading out loud, the words just don't roll off the tongue. Each page is written like a dialogue, but it's confusing and hard to know who's asking what. I find myself stumbling over it. I'm actually thinking about writing my own words because I love the pictures so much, especially since I'm starting to avoid pulling that book out since it's just not fun to read. If you're teaching your child some of these skills, it still might be a good book to read to discuss the pictures.

Perfect book for your little one that loves tools!

We all want to encourage young children to have a love of books and this one has been a big hit with my Grandson! Lovely bright illustrations and it reflects equal opportunities perfectly!