Festival of Fixing with Bob's Busy Screwdriver
Written: Feb 09 '04 (Updated Feb 18 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy rhyming story, fun illustrations, positive message
Cons: Thin for a board book, needs to be sturdier
The Bottom Line: I highly recommend Lauryn Silverhardt's Bob's Busy Screwdriver to parents of pre- to beginning readers. Story and tool with a can-do attitude, the Busy series gets three toolbelts up!
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| jaxmom28's Full Review: |
Today is a busy day for Bob. What will he need to do the job? His screwdriver!
I have a crush on my handyman. Yes, of course the one I’m married to. Yes, absolutely on the ones I gave birth to. But there’s another boyishly handsome fixit man who’s won a piece of my heart, as well. His name’s Bob, and he is The Builder. Today he stars in Bob’s Busy Screwdriver, written by Lauryn Silverhardt and illustrated by Art Ellis.
Got a loose screw? With a turn and a twist,
Bob tightens it up with a flick of his wrist.
Just before Christmas we were all making the rounds of the local home improvement stores, looking for paint and light fixtures and fancy toilet paper holders – the stuff of which Christmas vacation visions are made (along with lots and lots of cookies) in our home. The little ones, aged 4 and 1, were getting boisterous and a bit cantankerous about spending so much time in a basket. Our faithful dinosaurs had lost their charm and we needed a diversion but quick. Enter Bob’s Busy Toolkit at Lowe’s hardware store – a collection of four Busy Bob books in an attractive cardboard toolbox, and with it enter months of reliable reading fun!
He screws door hinges into the wall.
Bob can fix anything – large or small!
Each book (wrench, hammer, screwdriver, and saw) tells a simple story about the various uses of its titular tool featuring Bob the Builder, of Nick Jr. fame, as the hero. In Bob’s Busy Screwdriver, Bob goes about his day, through the house and office, fixing things with his trusty screwdriver. It’s a simple, straightforward story told in rhythmic, rhyming couplets. They’re fascinating for toddlers, easy for preschoolers to follow, and for parents to memorize.
Look! The office desk is in need of repair.
Bob tightens the screws with special care.
Illustrations are straight out of the Bob the Builder television show. Crisp and vivid, with a heavy emphasis on primary colors, Bob and company are all action figures shot in stop-frame animation. As such, the illustrations here aren’t drawings so much as photos, some with more collage-effects than others. Bright and happy, the simple illustrations of Bob and his friends (both human and mechanical) provide plenty of interest for little eyes without overwhelming them. Fans of the show will recognize cameos by Wendy, the Building Inspector, Scoop, Muck and others. The cameos are silent, however; Bob’s friends come over to help, but they don’t say much in these books.
This book is shaped like a screwdriver, with a large handle for little hands. Like the other Busy Tool books, it reminds me of a slightly oversized Fisher Price tool. In this case, short and squat and fat; fatter, in fact, than other books in the series, and not quite as suitable for doubling as a play-tool. The handle is just a tad too oversized here and is difficult for very small hands to grasp as a tool, but my four-year old does manage it where his younger brother cannot.
While a board book, the board is not as sturdy as my sons and I would like. Board books produced for Eric Carle or Sandra Boynton are thicker, sturdier, and take accidental toddler abuse much better. These Bob books don’t rip easily, but they do bend and break after some enthusiastic attention.
Bob’s finally finished. The day is done.
Now watch TV and have some fun.
One qualm, though it doesn’t stop us from reading and enjoying the book: I’d rather Silverhardt suggested another way to have fun; kids get enough TV and TV-related messages as it is. Of course, Bob is a TV character, so I suppose one verbal reference to television in a series of four books isn’t totally outlandish.
Both of my kiddoes adore these books. We have all four in the set and we have to read them all several times a night. I love Bob’s positive kid-power message: can we build it? Yes we can! Boy or girl, young or old, irrespective of all the politics we’ll learn along the way, with a little practice – and sometimes a little help from our friends – yes, we can build it, or fix it, or plan it. That’s a message I can really get behind and am more than happy to help foster.
Nice work, Bob!
I highly recommend Lauryn Silverhardt’s Bob’s Busy Screwdriver to parents of any pre- to beginning reader. Kids will love the simple stories and bright illustrations, and parents will love the can-do message Bob and friends deliver. And since the books are shaped like the tools they cover, they’ll double as toys, giving you two, two, two diversions for the price of one! Another three toolbelts up for Bob the Builder and friends!
Looking for more Bob the Builder?
♦ Bob’s Busy Hammer
♦ Bob’s Busy Saw
♦ Bob’s Busy Wrench
Recommended:
Yes
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jaxmom28
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Location: Somewhere in the south
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Whatever you are, be a good one.
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