First Words: An interactive book, with tracks to trace and flaps to lift!

by Patricia Hegarty

26 pages, Board Book

Published February 18, 2025

About the author

Patricia Hegarty began working in children's publishing more years ago than she cares to remember and is now Editorial Director at Caterpillar Books and Little Tiger Kids. As an author, the range of subjects has been wide-ranging—pirates, princesses, trees, and bees have all become firm favorites.

Reviews

[Olivia]

See my full review here: https://yabookscentral.com/first-word...

FIRST WORDS is a simple concept to introduce primarily 3-letter words to young children. Each page features a word with tracks to trace that leads to a flap of the object/object that can be lifted to reveal another object/animal and word. For instance, "Cat sees mouse" features a traceable word of "cat" with a cat on the flap that opens up to show a mouse with the word "mouse" on the inside of the flap.

What I loved: This is a very simple book with limited words on each page. The background is solid colors throughout, which allows readers to focus in on the words. The tracing is great for early writing, letter recognition, and reading. The letters to trace also have a guide for how to trace/how they should be drawn. The images of the objects/animals are very cute and the flaps are easy to lift, while keeping the focus on words themselves. This would work best for preschoolers who are advancing into developing writing and reading skills.

What left me wanting more: As a very small thing, the flaps are very thin and easy to rip for rougher readers - and this leaves an image that does not match the word on the page.

Final verdict: FIRST WORDS is an interactive board book that invites children to begin to develop reading and writing skills with words to trace - and some bonus flaps to lift!

Please note that I received an ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

When beginning to read and write, the first words can be the most powerful because it is upon this foundation that all further learning will take place. In this interactive board book, young children get to engage with straightforward, familiar words in multiple ways. At the top of each page is a word which is recessed into the background. Guiding lines help to train children in the correct way to draw each letter in the word, and the indentation provides a natural barrier to surround a child’s finger. Below the featured word is another word or phrase that connects it to a flap below. On the front of the flap is a relevant illustration depicting the first word, but beneath the flap is another image and word to finish the short sentence on that page. Together, the interactive components utilized throughout the book help to encourage very early reading and writing skills, and even if children are not able to follow the book on their own, the pre-literacy component of the text will resonate to some degree. Built on sturdy board pages, this book is designed to withstand multiple readings, and while the flaps may not last quite as long as the rest of the book, they are fun while they can be lifted. Cheerful illustrations and bright colors enhance the visual appeal of this book, and children and caregivers alike will appreciate the accessibility of the book’s design. This is a clever addition to home libraries for young children.

[Stephanie Bange · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new entry in the A Is for Apple series.

This bright red board book is just the ticket to get little fingers ready to begin refining their gross motor skills in preparation to write.

Each page in the book features a finger-traceable oversized 3-4 letter sight word (noun). Below it is a verb/verb phrase that interacts with a flap with a picture of that noun. When the flap is lifted, a picture of another noun with its name spelled out. Ex. "Ant walks on leaf", Cat sees mouse. A total of twenty words are traceable.

Illustrations by Summer Macon are bright and colorful with a charm in their simplicity.

Recommended for toddlers-preschool.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This colorful board book does exactly what it promises to do--help youngsters learn how to write and recognize simple words such as dog and bat. Using small arrows to point the way in the carved-out areas, little ones can learn the direction that their pencils should move when writing the letters for themselves. There are small numbers alongside the letters in the words so that they know where to start with their fingers. There are also small flaps to lift in order to reveal another related word and image. A preschool classroom or home library will definitely want to make use of this one.

[Bailey Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Words: An Interactive Book, With Tracks To Trace And Flaps To Flip is an educational, cute, brilliant, and delightful read! This board book is incredibly neat! Little ones are encoyrages to trace the letters as they sound out the word. The letters are huge and have arrows pointing in the direction children should trace. This book is a wonderful educational tool and is so cute.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pacing was pleasant. The words tiresomely expected. Also: flaps? Can we stop with the flaps? Flaps require an insanely light touch and this is exactly not available for the intended audience. (Several of them were torn off in the copy we were reading.)

Sonny liked it. *sigh.* We read it twice.