Many, many thanks to ZebraBooks and Mumsnet for this fantastic book. Our copy arrived a little later than most users, leading me to get sidetracked in terms of providing feedback. I did intended to leave a review a lot sooner , but I forgot to do so - many apologies for that.
It is a beautifully illustrated book - very colourful, with quirky cartoon characters. One can select either a hardback or softcover version. The hardback is sturdy, with a glossy cover and thick pages, so will potentially be hard wearing. The best feature is, of course, being able to personalise the text with the child's name and date of birth, etc., as well as a self-written message from the sender printed at the beginning of the book. This made the book extra-special and very unique.
Overall, the book contains a good story, depicting, as the title suggests, a tour of European countries. The main drawback is that it is text-heavy for younger children (e.g. a 5-year-old). Even reading aloud a page or two a night, for instance, doesn't work as well, since the transitions between each mini-adventure (i.e. visits to different countries) are not as smooth. It is difficult for children to remember what happened before when continuing the story from where they left off.
Additionally, we can only choose one of either uppercase or lowercase for the child's personalised name. If you choose UPPERCASE for the cover title, the name is printed in uppercase in the book as well, despite the rest of the page text being printed in lower case. And similarly, if you choose lowercase to make the name consistent with the rest of the text in the internal pages, then the name also appears in lower case on the cover.
However, these are small gripes when thinking about the positives. 'The European Tour' is one of several titles available from ZebraBooks, all with the option of being printed in one of several different languages. Engaging, interactive and attractively presented, this is a BRILLIANT book!!!
