Tails [Board book]

Matthew Van Fleet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003 | Age Range: 4 - 8 years

Tails are irresistible to toddlers, and in Matthew Van Fleet’s sturdy touch-and-feel board book, preschool-age pokers and prodders can finally tug to their heart’s content. Engaging, cartoonish animals from tigers to pangolins romp across the pages as the rhyming text bounces along: “Tails fluffy, / Tails stringy, / Scaled tails strong and—clingy!” Pull tabs, lift-able flaps, tufts of fur, and even a scratch-and-sniff skunk tail provide plenty of tactile surprises. Along the way, youngsters will learn about counting, opposites, and how animals use their tails. A tried and true tail-wagger!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The most fascinating part of an animal, in the minds of many young children, is the tail. Not only do kids lack such appendages, they've been told that, as tempting as they are to yank on, tails are not to be touched. Fortunately, this charming, texture-rich board book (with patches of real fake fur!) is the next best thing. A vast menagerie of cartoonish critters play and scamper around the pages of Matthew Van Fleet's Tails sporting tails of all types: bumpy alligator tails, fuzzy tiger tails, and even slightly stinky scratch-and-sniff skunk tails. Children can pull the tabs to make some of the tails wag or swish. The story line is minimal, as animals lounge about playing with one another and generally having good-natured fun. Catchy rhyming verse ("Tails fluffy, tails stringy, scaled tails strong and clingy. Tails long. Tails stumpy, pulling tails makes snoozers grumpy") keeps the action moving along and encourages young readers eager to turn the page. Shoddy construction can often spell doom for lift-the-flap and touch-and-feel children's books but Tails is every bit as well-designed as it is well-written and illustrated. (Preschool) --John Moe

Review

"A waggish survey of the animal world's very own happy endings."

(Parenting Magazine 20031001)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 - 8 years
  
• Board book: 20 pages
• Publisher: HMH Books (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152167730
• ISBN-13: 978-0152167738
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 1.7 x 7.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Matthew Van Fleet's innovative books have been introducing children to basic concepts for almost twenty years. His unique formats invite toddlers to touch, press, pull, lift and even sniff as they explore colors, shapes, numbers, letters, opposites and more.
His books include the #1 New York Times bestsellers Tails and DOG as well as the New York Times bestsellers CAT, Alphabet, Heads and MOO. His first interactive touch and feel book Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings has sold more than 1.3 million copies.
He lives with his wife, two sons and pug dog in Chappaqua, New York.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Tail Tale January 23, 2004

By G. McCarthy VINE™ VOICE

Format:Board book|Amazon Verified Purchase

My 15 month old daughter received this book for Christmas, and it is AWESOME. She already liked the traditional "touch & feel" books, and "Tails" is a big step up.

The story is a limited verbage, rhymey discussion of different types of tails. It has elements of the basic touch & feels - different furry tails and bumpy tails, but it goes even further. It has a flip out page with a BIG peacock tail that has shiny/sparkly circles to touch (my daughter's favorite), a pull-up tab with tails on each side, and 2 pull tabs that "wag" tails. There is also a "scratch n sniff" stinky skunk tail, but to be honest, we've never actually tried that one!

The illustrations are colorful and fun, with friendly animals to engage your child.

This book is quite sturdy. The pages aren't the board book pages, but sort of a double layer of cardstock - very solid. The tabs to pull are thick, not flimsy. We did have trouble with one of the tails that wags, a pig's tail that has a thin tail with a poof at the end, because my daughter tugged it several times and ripped the poof off. Fortunately, there is still enough tail to go "swat, swat, swat".

This is a really fun book that reads fast, has lots of page turning, and something new and fun on each page. It really captures my daughter's attention. Sometimes she grabs "Tails" and shoves it at me to read to her, and sometimes she sits down with it and "reads" it to herself. We spend a LOT of time with this book.

I'm buying some more of these books to give as gifts, and recommend this books as a BUY for everyone!

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tails -- It'll wag your inner dog. October 3, 2003

By "lewscanon"

Format:Board book

Who among us has not spent long times mesmerized by a cat's tail? How fascinating they are to watch. I agree with the previous comments: this book, Tails, will wag the dog in all of us.

If my grandchildren and those of my friends are representative, Matthew Van Fleet is fast becoming a collectible author. Throughout his growing little family of educational, cleverly-illustrated books--One Yellow Lion, Spotted Yellow Frogs, Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings, and now, Tails--is the theme of surprise. Behind every number, under every stone, beneath every innocent-looking shape lurks the possibility that things aren't always what they seem. After repeated readings--and you WILL often hear "read again!"--your children will love scoring points on you by knowing the secrets in advance and by demonstrating their newfound learning.

Being read to is the coziest of feelings, and these are the sort of books that bind reader and child such that they may forever summon from memory the original emotion. I think, years from now, when teenagers, young parents, mid-lifers and retirees like me dust off copies of their first books and thumb lovingly through the pages, that these Van Fleets will often be among those treasures, for they will have left the same heartprints that now whisper the names and bring back the faces and voices of those who read to me so long ago--grandparents, parents, big sisters--and that reignite that wonderful glow of child-warmth that has not gone from us, after all.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tails: A Favorite February 8, 2004

By Sarah Sammis

Format:Board book

Tails is by far my son's favorite book. He has us read it to him at least a dozen times a day. If we're not reading it, he's reading it to himself. Fortunately it's a delightfully illustrated book and holds up well to multiple reads.