Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

A true classic of a book! And one that has kept us entertained from when Rosie was really quite little. We have both the standard board book and the pop-up book and I must say I think the pop-up is just brilliant. It really enhances the book. They're simple pop-ups but that's why they work really well with the story - it's simple too!

The premise of the book is straightforward. The narrator has written to the zoo asking for a pet and the zoo keeps sending him animals, lion, snake, monkey etc until at last they send a puppy and all is well. It's silly but lovely and is helpful in getting a young child to learn their animals. Of course you can also supplement the reading with some animal noises. I think it's the book Rosie learnt to roar like a lion from...

This should be part of a child's first library really. And it's suitable from around 12 months so you'd get a lot of use out of it. The pop-up version is pretty sturdy so it should survive, although I probably wouldn't leave them alone with it for too long and if you have a child who enjoys ripping paper then it won't survive!

The publisher, Macmillan have also just launched an iPad app of Dear Zoo and it looks fab! Unfortunately I don't currently own an iPad so I can't test it out just yet!