View source for Bob's Great Green Book (Bob the Builder) by Various

{{infobox2 
|title= Bob's Great Green Book (Bob the Builder)
|author= Various
|reviewer= Chloe Spooner
|genre=For Sharing 
|summary= Help your child learn the importance of caring for the environment with TV favourite, Bob the Builder.
|rating=4 
|buy= Yes
|borrow= Yes
|pages=12 
|publisher= Egmont Books Ltd
|date= April 2009
|isbn=978-1405246576 
|aznuk=140524657X
|aznus=140524657X
|cover=140524657X
}}

Bob the Builder and his crew of machines live in the glorious Sunflower Valley and enjoy their work. However, as well as building new developments, they like to look after the world around them. Their motto is ''Reduce, Reuse and Recycle'' and they apply this to everything that they do. This book aims to introduce the youngest of children to the benefits of recycling, how to recycle and look after the world around them using characters that are familiar and in a way that teaches, not preaches.

The book is slightly unusual in its format because it doesn't have pages in the normal sense. Instead, the 'pages' fold out to eventually form a bright yellow sunflower coming out of the middle of the book, each with a short sentence about recycling, such as ''Reuse old paper for drawing or making things''. Each of these sentences relates to what was on the opposite side of the page, so it all ties in together nicely. Of course with this comes a negative, which is that the pages are quite thin and tear easily, as proved by my enthusiastic three year old when he eagerly flipped over the petal and it tore at the bottom. It wasn't bad enough that it couldn't be repaired but it doesn't sit nice and flat like it did which is a shame.

The text on the pages is clear to read, but is quite small. Therefore, I would recommend that this is a book for a parent to read aloud to child rather than them attempting to read themselves unless they are a more advanced reader. None of the words are too complicated, but some may have to be explained for younger readers due to the nature of the story such as ''solar panels'' and ''recycling'' which they may not have come across much before. There is no particular rhythm or rhyme to the story, but it still reads well. It talks to the reader rather than telling a story, but this opens it up to talking points for the child and the adult which I like to encourage when reading with my son. I like to ensure he understands exactly what I'm reading, and questioning checks that we're both happy with it.

The images on pages are fantastic, and exactly what you'd expect from a book from the BBC about one of their most successful characters. The images are brightly coloured and this makes it all the more appealing to younger children who rely more on pictures than text. The pictures depict what is being told, such as recycling newspaper into a paper bank, which again allows you to relate the book to real life which I think is great. The sunflower image was also bright and realistic, and made the book nice and sunny. The cover too is nice and attractive for toddlers, with a large picture of Bob the Builder and his cat Pilchard, and some sunflowers as well.

I was quite impressed with this book although I have to question how much the producers of this book thought about the roughness of toddler hands with such thin pages, especially those which require delicate handling as the pages of this particular book do. I've resorted to making sure I turn the pages myself but this upsets Harry as he loves to get involved, but I know the book won't last long if I let him handle it too much. The premise of the book is really good and I think encouraging our younger generation to look after their world can only be a good thing. The messages within aren't too preachy and open up good talking points for children, and is a friendly way of introducing green issues to children. Recommended by us!

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.

Slightly older children might enjoy [[Planet In Peril by Anita Ganeri and Mike Phillips]], but younger children will appreciate the mesages in [[10 Things I Can Do To Help My World by Melanie Walsh]].

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[[Category:Children's Non-Fiction]]