Frozen - The Essential Collection - Book Review

The Frozen mania that exists in my house is SO profound that even I let out a shriek of joy when I opened Frozen: The Essential Collection. Embarrassing? Yes but also true.

There is just something about Frozen that little (and some big) girls love!

My own 3 year old has proudly worn her 'Elsa dress' for 2 months straight (in the interests of hygiene we now own 2 exactly the same) and, to be honest, I'm just relieved that it isn't pink.

Anyway, you can understand my excitement when I opened my Frozen package.

The Essential Collection contains 2 Frozen books, lyrics to all the songs (in case you hadn't realised that it is called "Let It Go"), lots of stickers and generally far more information about Frozen than anyone but a small girl could possibly want to know.

 It also has a "Let It Go" sing-a-long clip... for any little girls out there not already singing it continuously on their own.

Is this book MORE about the movie?

Well, yes.

Are we all a bit sick of Frozen?

Quite possibly but our daughters really aren't and there are worse things in life than a movie where the true love is between sisters, and the handsome prince turns out to be WAY less desirable than the nice guy who works for a living!

In all seriousness, if you know a Frozen-loving little girl (and if you know any girls under the age of 10 you probably do), this is the perfect Christmas present for them. Truly!

Who'll love this: All those Frozen-mad little girls out there
Cost: $29.99
Publisher: Penguin Australia

Sticker books and the kids who love them...

When Wildman was small I never understood the attraction of sticker books, after all what kind of preschooler wants to sit and stick stickers for hours?

Despite my scepticism, other parents raved about them:

 "Oh little Tommy just loves them"
or
"They're so fantastic for fine motor skills"
or
"He sat there sticking for 45 minutes!" (clearly very appealing to a Mum).

I did try to get Wildman to play with them but he would just stick the stickers on the wall for about 2.3 seconds (yay - not) and then lose interest leaving me to spend the next half an hour trying to pick them off without damaging the paint.

Fast forward a few years and I now find myself the Mum of a 3 year old girl who LOVES sticker books. She spends ages carefully sticking them in exactly the right places then telling me stories about the scene she has created.

Its all been a bit of a shock really.

Most recently we have been trying out the Peppa's Halloween Sticker Activity Book (which Penguin very kindly sent in a box of books for review). We aren't a family that embraces Halloween but this book is spooky, cute and very age appropriate.

Princess particularly loved the page where you need to stick jigsaw puzzle shaped pieces on to complete the scene.

I think Peppa's Halloween could do with a few more pages that were just scenes that kids could stick Peppa and her friends on to, rather than all the stickers being needed for the activities, and Princess definitely wished it had a few more stickers in the middle for her to play with, but the overall activities were fun and achievable for a 3-year-old.

And I got to drink a whole cup of tea in peace while Princess was busy with Peppa!

Who'll love this: Peppa fans.
Cost: $7.99
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia