At first glance this is an innocuous and even cute book that allows infants and toddlers to experience various tactile sensations while reading or playing with the book.

But the more I look at it, the more it bugs me.

On the first page, Sandra Boynton would have us believe a cow's nose is fuzzy. I grew up on a dairy farm and know for a fact that cow snouts are smooth and slimy, with any hair around them being more prickly than fuzzy. They literally stick their tongues up their nostrils all day long, slurping up the mucus constantly oozing out of them. Calling that "fuzzy" is blatant misinformation. She's lying to kids, people!

On the next page, we have a dog's paw to touch with the caption, "Rough rough rough." That's clever because it picks up on the animal sound, right? We are then shown a pig's nose on the next page with a caption of "Smoooooooth." Yes, a pig's snout is probably about as smooth as a cow's. But if we moved the "Smoooooooth" to the cow, we'd have a more accurate description of it's nose and could emphasize the "mooooooo" in the middle and suddenly have a secondary animal noises theme the whole book could have been built around. Now we're moving into the realm of actually having to think about the book being made, Boynton, instead of farming it out to an intern to slap together from random images in your sketchbook and materials in your sewing basket.

Turning to the last page, the text asks "Do you want to start over with the fuzzy fuzzy guy?" Imagine being the parent stuck in a loop where the kid lifts the flap "Yes!" over and over again. It's just setting up a fight. Or if the kid picks "No." the first time through, then the parent will probably have regrets about wasting money on a book the kid doesn't want to read again. Lose, lose scenario.

Also, by referring to the "fuzzy, fuzzy guy," Boynton draws attention to the fact that the first page actually has "fuzzy" three times when indeed, there are only two instances of fuzzy -- and one of those is on the cover. WHERE'S OUR THIRD FUZZY!

Finally, looking at the back cover, we find that some copywriter has spoiled every single page. Every. Single. One. Look at it in a bookstore and you might as well put the book back on the shelf because there are no surprises or reveals left to be had. Boo!

I'm obviously overreacting for fun, but this really isn't anywhere close to the level I expect when I open a Sandra Boynton board book. ( )

interactive book with different materials to touch for reader. simple wording.
1 book

This is a good first touchy-feely book.

It's a little large, so it's great for lapsitters; there isn't too much in the way of vocabulary to muck things up; and the textures are varied.

But it's the sort of book that babies and toddlers will tire of quickly, and yes, the two flaps on the back *will* get torn off, so it has to be a supervised book.

For more long-term use, I'd suggest the "That's Not My..." series. ( )

I'm surprised my children don't like this book more, actually. It has all the right elements -- fun words, fun things to touch, and engaging pictures. They don't seem as drawn to it as other Boynton, or other touch and feel books, but I can't say why, as I think it's well made and appealing. ( )