Melissa & Doug Children's Book - Poke-a-Dot:The Night Before Christmas (Board Book with Buttons to Pop)

This book actually broke before we'd even used it for the first time. The book is significantly heavier than most board books. The first page got torn away from the rest of the book, but it did remain intact at the spine. I'm not sure how long that will last in our house, though! :) My son loves the poke-a-dot series of learning. He's still a toddler, and he's already begun pointing to illustrations in his books to ask me what they are called. The poke-a-dot system helps focus his attention on certain themed learning (e.g., primary colors, shapes, or sight words for older kiddos). The dots keep him engaged more than most other types of books, and he often wants to read the same book over again. This is somewhat unusual for him, as he is rather squirrely and doesn't usually like to sit down or listen to reading for too long. I think the interaction between parent %26 child is better on this book series than many others. The child controls when he pokes the dog, and the parent then responds with the name of the object associated with that dot because it's beside it. The counting series in this line also works well to help children keep track of which objects they have counted and which they haven't!