We are voracious readers in our family.
Seriously voracious.
As I write this, four out of five of the people living in this house right now have a book in hand. I am personally in love with the Kindle for iPhone app, but that's not important right now.
So I was delighted when the makers of the new V.Reader for kids by VTech asked if I would review their product.
(In the interest of complete disclosure, I was given a V.Reader by VTech for my review. I was allowed to keep the product, but the opinion I am sharing remains my own. Well, with some help….read on…)
I got the V.Reader, turned it on, pressed the buttons, heard the story. I thought how incredibly cute it was and how I wished it had been available when my kids (who are now teenagers) were young. I totally would have purchased this product. So, my personal opinion was that I loved it.
An animated storybook? What's not to love?
But I knew I needed to get a real expert in here.
Here's my grand-nephew, Ben, who just turned five. His mom (my niece, Helen)
has been reading to him since he was a baby. He loves books.
"Here, Ben, try this."
He quickly typed in his name: B-E-N. Chose an avatar. A robot (Duh!). And it took him no time at all to figure out how to turn the "pages" on his "book."
He became immediately engrossed in the story and was quickly asking for more. "What else can I do? Are there more stories?"
The V.Reader is available at Target stores and so are the other book titles. (On hearing there was a new Toy Story 3 V.book, my niece left here and headed right over to Target to pick that one up.)
The final verdict according to my in-house expert and the general consensus from everyone here, the V.Reader is "Awesome!"
Here comes the very cool part….
VTech has generously offered to send out a V.Reader to one lucky MBFCF reader. (I know. Shut up!)
So, let's do a comment giveaway. (How much do I love this?)
Go to the comment section of this post and tell me ….what was YOUR favorite book as a child?
I'll choose a winner on Monday, July 5th at 11:00 am Pacific Time.
Mine was The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss. (That explains so much, doesn't it?) =D
I loved Charlotte’s Web!
Oh what a wonderful giveaway! I loved “Little Bear” by Maurice Sendak. Thanks for the chance!
My favorite book was “Three to Get Read” which was a gift from my first grade teacher. I still have it!
I loved “Caps For Sale”…still love it!!
It’s so hard to pick just one. There were so many!! I guess I’ll have to pick the first one that came to me. I LOVED “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls. Definitely one of my favorites (And yes, the main character’s name was Billy, but that’s not important right now).:)
How exciting! Gabby would have such fun with this as she starts school in September. We too love “Caps for sale”.
My favorite book was The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
In first grade I loved “A Fish Out of Water” by Helen Palmer and published by Dr. Seuss.In 3rd grade I loved the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series by Betty MacDonald.
By the sixth grade I was the strange kid reading The Godfather by Mario Puzo and Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls.
I love that your entry just made me go back and research those early children’s books I loved and now I must find copies of them to own as an adult.
Consider me entered into this drawing as this would make a wonderful tool for my 3.5 year old nephew who is having a difficult time with language because he is between the two worlds of Spanish and English all day. He spends the day with my Mom and Dad speaking Spanish to him and the evenings with my brother and sister in law speaking English. He is still not speaking at the level that he should be and I think it’s because he’s confused because he’s very smart in every other way.
When I was a child I used books to escape my home life..now as an adult I take my two children 3 & 5 – to the library and rent a ridiculous amount of books that we read at bedtime. My favorite book as a child was The Secret Garden.
I used to love The Phantom Tollbooth when I was young. This looks like a great product that my girl will love. She loves reading and is turning out to be quite techy as well.
so many favorite books… christina catarina and the box, james and the giant peach, a wrinkle in time… those were three! would love this gadget for my girlie #1. =) (pick me pick me pick me *waves hand in air, jumps up an down*)
I only remember watching TV when I was young :/BUT as a current Pre-K teacher, I can tell you what books I love now: Anything by Mo Willems. He writes hilarious books. My favorite is The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog.
I’m embarrassed to say that my favorite book as a kid (7 to 15 yrs old) was the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Not a normal book for a little kids but what can I say, I was a bit precocious!
Nichole SEiler: I loved reading The little house on the prairie books
Ferdinand the Bull was my favorite! Marta, I would love to win this giveaway as a cool gift for a munchkin relative!:)
My favorite book as a child was “Mei Li” by Thomas Handforth…sweet and innocent.
Oh, SWEET. I hear that those are so good for helping kids to learn to read.Not sure I could pick a favorite book from growing up. I read too many, myself. I did especially love the Judy Blume books though!
As a little kid I loved The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein but in grade school I loved Something for Joey, about Heisman trophy winner Johnny Cappelletti and his little brother who died of leukemia. It was a tv movie, too.
El libro que mas disfrute eran los cuentos de Tio Tigre y Tio Conejo, clasicos de la literatura venezolana.
I’m sad to say, I wasn’t read to when I was growing up but discovered books on my own when I was in elementary school…I was a huge fan of Charlotte’s Web and anything by Judy Blume. We’ve been reading to our son since he was an infant. If I don’t win your giveaway, I’m picking it up myself because now that Lucas is 3.5, I think this would be a great tool to help him start reading…he has Down syndrome and they tend to be visual learners so this seems like a perfect tool. Thanks, Marta! Enjoy your July 4th.
My 2nd grade teacher gave me a copy Charlotte’s Web and I loved it. I recently read it with my 6 yr old daughter. 🙂
My absolute favorite book as a little child was “Harold and the Purple Crayon” by Crockett Johnson. It made the world seem full of infinite possibilities. It was the beginning of life long love of books.
what an awesome giveaway!I can’t pick just one, but a few stand out: when I was a pre-tween, it was Charlotte’s Web and the Ramona/Judy Blume books. Then, a bit older, I couldn’t put down the Anne of Green Gables Series.
I’m so thankful the boys love to read (and be read to) as much as I did when I was their age!
Ay! That’s such a hard question. Probably anything by Margaret L’Engle. If you need only one, then I guess I’ll say A Wrinkle in Time. Or Arm of the Starfish.When I got older (teens), I loved everything from Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels.
I loved any books in which the characters got to travel around the world…
What a hard question! As a young child, I loved anything Dr. Seuss. As I got older, books like A Wrinkle in Time and the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys mysteries were some of my favorites.
The book I read over and over and over as a kid was Corduroy by Don Freeman. The illustration where the bear’s ears are the only thing you can see when he’s hiding under the covers is incredibly simple, yet overwhelmingly endearing.
Oh my, this is a tough question for me. As a child, my parents gave me and my sisters a subscription to a “book of the month club”. It was wonderful to get a new hard cover book in the mail…Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, so many classics I can’t even remember them all. One of my favorites was a book called “The Five Chinese Brothers” by Claire Huchet Bishop about five identical Chinese brothers, each one with a magical “superpower”. It was based on an old Chinese folk tale. Wow, I hadn’t thought about that book in a long time!Now I have my kindle (best Christmas present ever from my dear hubby!) and I think I have at least 10 books going at the same time! Trying to get through the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo right now.
My favorite were Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys mysteries series. Would spend summer vacations just reading these books the entire day. Would love to win this for my grandson.
“The Biography of Louisa May Alcott”, then came my “let’s see why these are classics” phase.Si, yo se… que te puedo decir??
Sooooo many!!! As a young child…The Frances books, A Gift Bear for the King, The Crows of Pear Blossom. As I got older…Little House books, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, The Tales of Olga da Polga, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess…ahhhhh, my best memories of childhood are those of getting lost in a good book!
Oh my how terrific!!! My favorite all time children’s book is “Rainbow Fish”, but that was after I had my own kids. My favorite books as a child were any of the”Pippi Longstocking” stories. My teachers would do read-alouds and Pippi was a favorite. I’m a Special Ed. teacher in Hialeah, Florida and I try to instill in my students the love of reading as much as possible. 🙂
My favorite books were “Jane and Dick”. Let’s not forget Spot…Now as an adult I found a book with various different Jane and Dick stories and I had to buy to be able to show my kids what we use to read as kids…
As a child, I loved the book A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I loved it and would read it over and over. Something about her triumphing over horrible circumstances, and always remaining happy, never letting others change her really spoke to me. It’s probably a book I should read again, come to think of it. Anyhow, hope it’s not too late to enter. This would be awesome for my 1st grader and my almost 3 year old!! Love your blog!