Customer Reviews

My Little Red Toolbox

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Bought this title for my son (20 months old). He has allways been into tools and other hardware. Books has never been on his toplist - that is until we bought this book. He just loves it - and I think this will open him up to other books as well. I highly reccomend this title. And by the way. Even though english is not the language of our family, this book works just fine anyway.

As a school librarian, I would not recommend this book for library shelves, but it is a perfect hands on book to share with little ones, one on one. The 'adult' will love taking the tools off the page and making them work, probably more than the little one will! This book will be good for hours of entertainment for young and old alike. So creative! I have not seen anything else like it.

I just received this book, which I had ordered for my 15 month old nephew. I was disappointed to find a warning label on the front which says that the book is NOT for children under 3 and that there are many small pieces which could be a choking hazard. Any book which contains a warning label on the cover should have the same warning listed prominently in the description.

A terrific concept, clever and visually appealing, teaches children not just how tools work but also about shapes, colors and counting. Parents and children alike want to love this book, which is why it is so disappointing to find that the "sturdy cardboard" tools break quite easily after being played with just a couple of times by a typical toddler.

My 3-year-old boy was in tears when both the wrench and hammer broke during the first day of use because he bent them. Toddlers will bend toys if they are bendable! When we taped the tools back together, they no longer fit into their slots.

This seems to be a book that evolved from the author's great idea into the publisher's slick package. In the end, it is frustrating and sadly impractical for its recommended age group.

My son got this book a few months before his 3rd birthday. It has been his favorite book and his favorite toy since then. His 3rd birthday was last week and after quickly sorting through all his presents, he went back to his tool book. The tools are great fun and much sturdier than I thought they would be. It's a self storing toy - which I always love - and my son takes pride in always putting the tools back in their place (he's not usually that neat!) We have a huge collection of much more life-like tools, but our son likes these best.

My 5 year old son just got this book from his aunt on Thanksgiving Day, to keep him entertained during a 4 hour road trip she was taking him and her 4 year old son on. It definately worked!! He loved it!! He couldn't wait to get back home and take his book to school for Show and Tell. Unfortunately, at the end of the trip (2 days later), the pencil tip was bending, and the drill was bent/ripped. Unlike younger children who may chew or try to bend ANY toy, my son is old enough to know how to treat things like this and was slightly dissapointed when they started to break and bend. He has since learned to use his fingernails to write on the writing pad, and we pretty much just leave the drill alone. I did Super Glue the drill once and that worked just fine...unfortunately, after it went to school for 2 days, it had a new break in it. At the time of this review, the book is exactly 1 week old!!! I looked up the book on this site with the intention to order a couple for other nephews of mine, but after seeing that we weren't the only ones with these problems, I think I'll wait till they improve the book and materials. This book would be a huge success if the author or illustrator made the removable tools out of wood!!!

I'm a big fan of interactive and pop-ups and this book is no disappointment! My 4 year old son loves this working tool book, and true, if you want it preserved, supervise, but what fun is that? I'd say it's for ages 4 to 9 - to age 94! I had fun with him. The cardboard is as sturdy and thick as possible - get two if you really care about replacing parts. The Sketch pad in the front of the book created all types of creative imagery play for my son. He definitely favored this gift over modern commercial type toys. FUN FUN FUN!!

Got it to give as a Christmas present but decided to take this one back. Great concept, I'm sure a lot of kids will love the book, but bear in mind the other reviews that caution about how easily the tools will fall apart, this book will have a fun but limited life span! It might be good to bring out at special times for parents and children sharing a book together, quiet time, etc. You couldn't give kids the book and have them play with it unsupervised for very long before something would get broken. What's the point of tools if you can't use them?!

Similar to the book "My Granny's Purse", this book is not for children who are rough with their things. However, if your child is apt to treat books as books (not tear pages or bend book backwards), this book is awesome and although it may not last more than 5 years or so, it is certainly worth it. I have two girls who have played with the book for years and I'm so glad I found the book by accident in a small bookstore. I would recommend the book for ages 3-7. By the way, after a little practice, my kids were able to take out the tools themselves (contrary to another reviewer's comments).

This came in a gift basket for my newborn son, but my 2 1/2 year-old daughter confiscated it, and she LOVES it! She's learned all about what different tools do, and it has cardboard tools / puzzle pieces that she can pull out and actually practice with. Also focuses on shapes and counting. We always have workers in our house, and my daughter loves knowing the types of tools that they are using. We have read it about 100 times, and it keeps her busy for long stretches of time. Love it!