“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” Groucho Marx

Ok…maybe not the best book quote, but I have to agree that I find books to be a great comfort to me and always have done.  As a child, I always had my nose in a book and maybe that is not exactly how I want my little boy to grow up but I would like him to appreciate the written word and so we have been reading books together since he first opened his little baby eyes.  Now he is two and nine months, he chooses which book he wants to read before bed and we cuddle up under the duvet to share a story before he sleeps.  He knows the Gruffalo and the Gruffalo’s child almost off by heart and can recognise certain letters (such as M, for Mummy and Malachi) and words (such as Thomas, as in the tank engine).

I love to get new books and when I was sent Jacks Mega Machines – The Rocket Racing Car and How Dinosaurs Really Work bu the publishers Simon and Schuster I was thrilled – all kids like rockets and dinosaurs (I think).

Jacks Mega Machines – The Rocket Racing Car is by Alison Ritchie and Mike Byrne is a fabulous book with big bright glossy pages and each page is filled with colourful detailed pictures to complement the story. Big machines, small machines, good deeds and aliens litter the pages, giving my son so much to look at as I read him the words, and things we can count and name together.  And bonus! At the rear of the book is a beautifully detailed cardboard rocket toy that adds to the imagination as we read.  I’ve tied it to the frame of his bed so that he doesn’t play with it and break it!  We love this book, and it is introducing the concept of space travel to him, as well as aliens and rockets and how to be helpful ad useful.  We love this book so much that I might buy him the Dinosaur Digger one in the same range. It’s age recommendation is 3+.

How Dinosaurs Really Work by Alan Snow is aged a bit above my son, as 4+ but I think we are still getting a lot out of it nonetheless.  Another nice big book, it is not a story but a collection of facts about different dinosaurs.  Malachi is just starting to get ‘into’ dinosaurs, and likes me to look at them with him and tell him all about them.  We make up stories about them and the little people that are used throughout the book to illustrate facts. It is a difficult concept to explain to a two year old, evolution and all that, but I suppose he understands in his own way.  The facts are clear and humorously illustrated and it will help him when he goes to school and ‘does’ dinosaurs.  It’s a lovely happy book, an I love him saying the dinosaur names in his little lispy toddler way.

I’d give both books a good five stars, and look forward to reading them for a long time to come.

Disclaimer: The product was sent for free. I was not obliged to write this post and the opinions expressed are all my own.