Mix It Up!: Board Book Edition (Herve Tullet)

My son is three and he absolutely loves this book and takes it very seriously! My daughter also loves that she is sick and she loves to read it to him. I highly recommend this especially because it explains primary colors without making messes and it allows you to do that when you're done if you want to by giving you the option when it says now it's your turn to mix it up!

The beauty of this book is in it's simplicity. Each page shows what happens when you mix or manipulate colors and shapes made form paint. Think finger paint style. Visually it's both simple and stunning. Very bright brilliant colors with plenty of negative space to let the colors shine. That's it. That's all the illustrations are. And it's that simplicity that makes this book great. The colors capture a child's visual attention. Then once the kid is hooked the book changes the colors and shapes and forces the child into unwittingly using both his or her right and left brain. It makes the child quantifiably see what happens when colors mix (Yellow and blue make green, folding the page with a blotch makes a mirror image, etc etc etc) and to use his or her imagination to make sense of the colored splotches on the paper. Plus it's very interactive. The kid is told to touch the pages to make things happen (touch the page to make more colors, then the next page has more colors...etc etc) so the whole thing is very stimulating to a child's brain. (Okay okay...I'm 36 and I was entertained by it too. I admit it.) It's so much fun to watch my daughter read this book over and over and over, constantly responding to the directions in the book as if she and the book were having a conversation. Above all of the other mental stimulation this book provides, it's also helping to instill a lover of books in her as a young child. All that child development stimulation is a hell of a good deal for $12!

Great book for kiddos

Love them. Very interactive books!!

I first borrowed this book from our library for our 4 yr old. She loved this and had so much fun interacting with the pages. I think she felt like she was really mixing the colors together. I even had fun watching her and waiting to see what was on the next page. We loved it so much that we purchased this one for my 3 yr old niece. She loved it also. I would definitely recommend this for your toddler and it would be a nice birthday gift instead of toys. Really good for learning.

Herve Tullet must be a very vibrant, creative, and fun person to be around. I think he is like the picasso for kids and I mean that in the best ways!! This is our third Herve book we've added to our collection (Press Here and The Scribble Book.) We really enjoy the interactive style he uses in his books, to encourage kids to participate in the story as it goes along. I don't want to compare Mix it Up to Press Here, but because it's the same type of book, by the same author, there are some parallels I will comment on. As a mom what I LOVE about this book is the lack of actual mess. The kids can mix the colors again and again and again... and guess what? We don't end up with some globby pile of weird brown paint. So that alone makes it very enjoyable for me. Herve's books have a sense of magic to them- yes the kids know it's not real paint and they know that the book is pre-printed and they're not actually doing the "mixing" and smushing of the colors. HOWEVER, it's vibrant and fun so much that the story comes to life and POOF= "MAGIC!" They are actually mixing and smushing the colors all over the place (everyone from age 1.5 to 7 participates too!) Here's where I will draw a couple of comparisons- I wish some of the elements below from Press Here were incorporated into Mix It Up. One of the elements that I love about Press Here, that I found lacking in Mix it Up, was the language. I love in PH how the narration gives feedback and guides the child to the next page/concept/action. This is different from MIU, which has things like "What do you think will happen?" then you turn the page, and it says, "Right!" I prefer the feedback and direction, because it ties the language to the concepts in the book. Now, we end up supplementing and making our own language up as we go, but I assume lots of kids will be reading this to themselves, or maybe to their siblings. It leaves a little to be desired, and doesn't feel complete. Similar to the above- PH had a sequence of events- one thing led to another, which led to another, which led to another, and so on. Nothing felt out of place. The only proof of sequence I'm seeing in MIU is the increasing number of faint other-colored fingerprints from previous "mixing" pages. I just feel like a bit more could have been done here to incorporate it all for the kids and really make it as fun and engaging as Herve Tullet's other stories. Now something I LOVE about all three of the books is something that MAKES these stories worth their prices to me. These books are DURABLE. Childrens books cannot be flimsy!!! I hate spending money on hardcover books most of the time because they are still made out of cheap quality materials that will eventually separate and die a sad, broken-binding, torn-page book death, stacked up on a shelf waiting for scotch tape surgery. What is the point of having a fun, engaging children's book that can't withstand use from its targeted audience??! If the material used to make these books ever changes to the standard hard cover/thin pages, I don't think we would purchase them anymore. These books are meant to be shaken, smashed, pressed, and very, very actively handled! The author/publishing company/head-hauncho decision-maker made a GREAT choice when choosing the material of these books. PLEASE don't change it- I know it's probably not the least expensive option. I try to be smart about our book purchases and try not to spend crazy amounts of money on picture books, but if it came down to it, I'd shell out a couple more dollars just to have this high level of quality. My only comment about the material is that something is up with the MIU book cover. The corner of the cover was already starting to peel away from the cardboard backing within 3 times of reading this book. Maybe it's a fluke, because PH never did that and it's been read (re: thrown around, played with, and adored) by some very active kids. I just glued it back down and let it sit overnight under a heavy book and it was fine. Overall (and I totally realize I'm rambling here) I like this book and my kids love it. I just figured that since PH is a tough act to follow, I'd add my thoughts about comparing them, because I'm sure some other parents will too. I read it today to a group of kids aged 1.5, 3, 3.5, 5, and 7, and they all crowded around the book and took turns pressing, smashing, blending, mushing, mixing, and even stepping on the pages to make the mixing magic happen. It's very fun and I do recommend it!

Our toddler loves this book. It is so fun and she asks us to read it almost every night! It is cute watching her follow the prompts in the book and she is actually learning what colors can be mixed to make different colors! We have been practicing with paints during the day so when we read this book at night it makes more sense. Highly recommend she loves it and so do i. Fun and educational.

This was a birthday gift and I believe the mom and child loved it

Assolutamente fantastico, molto interattivo e stimolante come il resto dei libri dello stesso autore

We've had "Press Here!" for the longest time, and it was a fun activity for both my kids. Then, we decided to get this one, and is just as good if not better! Color theory and all the fun interactions of the other book.

ولدي الصغير أنبسط فيه وكل يوم تقريبا نقراه اكثر من ٥ مرات كتاب مايتفوت وكتب هالمؤلف مرره جميله

A book that is interactive and educational at the same time, brilliant and highly recommended.

My kid loved playing with this book till the papers are dead. Interesting thing is he has learnt all the colors in two days. Great book for introduction of color mixing to kids. Price seems bit high however, its content and colors are the real value for money.