Maddie Moo Toddler Book Review: Madeline's Secret Code
Created by: Rad Seed
YOUR SECRET CODE Website
We recieved this book in exchange for an honest review.
I actually didn't know what to expect with this book, as I didn't pay very close attention to what "code" the Secret Code actually was. I was pleasantly surprised to discover it was actually referring to coding. Which is something that totally short-wires my brain because numbers. But which I think is pretty awesome all the same.
So this book can be customized with your child's name, a main character who looks most like her. I think there are like 4 girls, one with long curly hair, one with a short bob, one with her hair in a topknot, and another with big poofy hair. From there, they can be customized with different skin tones and hair colors. I think their eye colors can be customized as well. Madeline's are hazel so I never know what color to say. They're blue-ringed with green bleeding into brown at the center? haha so our girl on the cover has brown. Which is fine. Unless you're pretty close to her, Mads looks like she might have brown eyes.
On to the actual art. I found the artwork to be really gorgeous. I love the illustration style and the colors are so vibrant and plentiful. Plus, the book focuses on a robot the main character has been coded to organize so a lot of the pages have a bunch of stuff that is color coded, which makes my color-coding-obsessed soul very happy!
I found the story to be a huge step up from the stories I had when I was a kid that you got your name thrown into. It still has a small amount of clunkiness inherent in this style of book only because, for us, we never call Madeline by her full name that many times in a row. Usually it starts off Madeline and then jumps around from Mae to Moo to Mooji to Maddie to Mads to MaeMae... you get the idea. So it feels a tiny bit awkward constantly using the one form of address. However, I don't think this is something most people will have any issue with. We are just weird. haha
As for Madeline's assessment of the book, I think she enjoys it as far as she, as a two-year-old, can. She loved the colors and enjoyed flipping through the pages. She said "Once upon a time" on every page, pretending to read it, which she doesn't do with every story, so I think she was engaged in her own way. I think she will enjoy this one when she gets a bit older, and I'll certainly enjoy being able to offer her a book that shows a profession or avenue of interest she might otherwise not have thought of {remember, I'm an artist/writer/reader. Not a great numbers girl}.
I think this book is a great idea and I'm really glad we have it in our collection. I have said this often lately, and I really believe it: this might seem like a really scary crappy time in the world, and sometimes you might think, "why would I want to raise a kid in this crazy world?" but I think this also happens to be a great time for raising girls. There's a bit of a renaissance in the female empowerment movement and it seems like there are all of these things in entertainment in all its forms that are really bringing that to the forefront. Which means our girls get to grow up with books and movies and games and our general culture that show them as more than just princesses or in roles that are generally considered female or leave them feeling they aren't perfect because this or that isn't shaped right or whatever. I love that. And this book is a great addition to that movement as well as to our bookshelf.
YOUR SECRET CODE Website
We recieved this book in exchange for an honest review.I actually didn't know what to expect with this book, as I didn't pay very close attention to what "code" the Secret Code actually was. I was pleasantly surprised to discover it was actually referring to coding. Which is something that totally short-wires my brain because numbers. But which I think is pretty awesome all the same.
So this book can be customized with your child's name, a main character who looks most like her. I think there are like 4 girls, one with long curly hair, one with a short bob, one with her hair in a topknot, and another with big poofy hair. From there, they can be customized with different skin tones and hair colors. I think their eye colors can be customized as well. Madeline's are hazel so I never know what color to say. They're blue-ringed with green bleeding into brown at the center? haha so our girl on the cover has brown. Which is fine. Unless you're pretty close to her, Mads looks like she might have brown eyes.
On to the actual art. I found the artwork to be really gorgeous. I love the illustration style and the colors are so vibrant and plentiful. Plus, the book focuses on a robot the main character has been coded to organize so a lot of the pages have a bunch of stuff that is color coded, which makes my color-coding-obsessed soul very happy! I found the story to be a huge step up from the stories I had when I was a kid that you got your name thrown into. It still has a small amount of clunkiness inherent in this style of book only because, for us, we never call Madeline by her full name that many times in a row. Usually it starts off Madeline and then jumps around from Mae to Moo to Mooji to Maddie to Mads to MaeMae... you get the idea. So it feels a tiny bit awkward constantly using the one form of address. However, I don't think this is something most people will have any issue with. We are just weird. haha
As for Madeline's assessment of the book, I think she enjoys it as far as she, as a two-year-old, can. She loved the colors and enjoyed flipping through the pages. She said "Once upon a time" on every page, pretending to read it, which she doesn't do with every story, so I think she was engaged in her own way. I think she will enjoy this one when she gets a bit older, and I'll certainly enjoy being able to offer her a book that shows a profession or avenue of interest she might otherwise not have thought of {remember, I'm an artist/writer/reader. Not a great numbers girl}.
I think this book is a great idea and I'm really glad we have it in our collection. I have said this often lately, and I really believe it: this might seem like a really scary crappy time in the world, and sometimes you might think, "why would I want to raise a kid in this crazy world?" but I think this also happens to be a great time for raising girls. There's a bit of a renaissance in the female empowerment movement and it seems like there are all of these things in entertainment in all its forms that are really bringing that to the forefront. Which means our girls get to grow up with books and movies and games and our general culture that show them as more than just princesses or in roles that are generally considered female or leave them feeling they aren't perfect because this or that isn't shaped right or whatever. I love that. And this book is a great addition to that movement as well as to our bookshelf. 
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