Mix it up! by Herve Tullet

Allen & Unwin, 2014. ISBN 9781760110956
(Age: 3+) Warmly recommended. Painting, Colour. Interactive does not only apply to computers, as here is an interactive book to keep children amused for ages. Mixing colours by pressing on each page will enthrall, delight and inform as kids turn the pages of this book with solid covers and shiny paper filled with colour inside. The reader is asked to tap the first dot, and on turning the page finds a few coloured spots have appeared. Over the next few pages the reader is asked to tap again and more coloured spots appear. Then a hand outline covers the spots, and the readers will not be able to resist putting their hand on the page. Over the page again, more coloured dots appear and the reader is asked to mix them, each time finding a new colour appears after mixing one or two colours. Not only is the child having fun with the pages of the book, but they are learning how colours mix to make other colours. A fun time will be had reading through the book, and imagination soar as they see the possibilities beyond the pages. Paper and paint will need to be available at the end to reading for them to further explore what they have leant and wish to discover.
The interactive nature of the book will enthrall younger readers, who without knowing it will absorb the names of colours and the idea of mixing colour to create another, and at the same time, follow instructions, a skill which is very handy for young people to learn.
Another book by Tulet, Press here! (2010) is just as fascinating in teaching children that books can be interactive and using this book will again encourage them to follow instructions.
Fran Knight