The Looky Book product reviews

My three-year-old and 18-month old girls both LOVE this book. Appropriate for a variety of ages, level of difficulty can vary depending on ages, it's such a fun handy book to have. My 3-year-old has not managed to complete all the tasks quite yet, so I love that it offers more as the children develop. My Kids love finding the pictures, matching, counting, puzzles and finding the odd one out etc. can't wait for the Christmas addition! We love the New Zealand touch that it brings. Its great that it has the option of a board book and a paperback option.

Donovan Bixley is a wonderful New Zealand author who has a great talent at making his books entertaining and interesting for both the child and the adult reading. I love the quality of the pictures and the fun little touches he hides in his pictures. Would highly recommend this book as a New Zealand gift for an overseas person as well as all New Zealanders. These books are well priced and worth every penny! support a local New Zealand talent and watch your children love these books and feel entertained at the same time!

The Looky Book is another masterpiece by the very brilliant and talented Donovan Bixley. I was first introduced to his work properly via Bo the Sheep which I reviewed here some time ago. I love the cartoony fluid look of Bixley's characters. They look so friendly, full of fun and mischief. The Looky Book, is written and illustrated by Bixley, and it's absolutely amazing.

Christmas Day my daughter opened a present which contained the book. It was a horrible wet day. A real stuck inside sort of day. So this book was just the distraction from boredom that we needed. We sat down with it on the couch and started to pour over each page. The prose on each page is a nice introduction to the illustration. It gives you an idea of what the object is of each puzzle or game. Then you are left to the incredibly detailed pictures.

Each page probably took us 30 minutes or so to complete in full. That was with us all working together. My favourite one was the bush walk page where you needed to find all the animals on the list. That was so much harder than it sounds. Every new discovery was a light-bulb moment. The excitement and squeals from us on the couch were puzzled over by those not "in on the joke". Even with all that time, we didn't find everything and we ended up cheating a bit with the answer sheet. Once I saw all the ones that had alluded me I was amazed and in total awe of this talented artist. It really was a case of not seeing the wood for the trees!

There is a cheeky Tui and a grumpy garden gnome on each page to do a version of "Where's Wally" as well. This book is just good clean fun, with lots and lots in there for the adults as well. A lady shaped like a beach ball had my daughter almost unable to breathe. We laughed so much. Yet, it also made us stop and think and search, a real brain work-out as well. Serious business this kind of deep searching of images. $20 well spent here.