Busy cafe by Louise Forshaw

Busy series. Pan Macmillan, 2017. ISBN 9781509828739
(Age: 0-4) Recommended. Busy cafe is one of nine board books in the Busy series by Campbell Books, and in my opinion is fantastic! This little book captured the imagination of my 3 year old and was the starting point of lots of interesting conversations about our daily life and how the cafe world works. The book has push and pull tabs and a spin mechanism that shows the changes in the cafe; whole food to cut up or eaten foods, full to empty cups; and were a hit!
The illustrations by Louise Forshaw are bright and enticing, and the speech bubbles have great questions that also allowed us to do some counting, searching of the page and discussing favourite foods. The words follow a simple rhyme which was mastered by the 3rd reading and also assist to teach children the process of ordering, paying for and collecting food in this scenario.
The other books in the series include Busy bookshop, Busy farm and Busy vet and I feel that they would be good resources to help teach children learn about places and people in our community while enjoying a fun interactive story. Target audience: Up to 4 years.
Lauren Fountain