Interactive Children’s Books

Do you have a kid that resists all attempts to be read to? You’ve tried the classics but no joy. You’ve tried letting the child pick their own book, but they still can’t sit through it. You’ve even tried books that seem designed to irritate parents, but still your child would rather watch TV or break your stuff. Perhaps you’d like to try a book that is not a story.

Story-less interactive children’s books. This is a very unique and wonderful category of book that you should include regularly in your library bag. There are some real corkers that will be exceptionally memorable for your kids; they will bring reading time to life in your home. And they might even engage that rascally non-reader of yours.

A story-less book is just that, a book that is designed with no storyline for the child to follow. There is no beginning, middle, or end. There might not even be any characters. The book is more of a tool for your child’s imagination. I refer to them as interactive books as they get the reader to physically engage with the text/illustrations and manipulate the book. 

I’ll give you a few examples of my favourites.

This is Not a Book, by Jean Julllien

My absolute favourite book in this category is ‘This is Not a Book’ by Jean Jullien. So when is a book not a book? – when it is a computer, a toolbox, and a piano. Inside this ‘book’ you will find images that will inspire your child to imagine new ways of looking at things. It is a board book and thus can be given to even very small children. 

Recently a sequel has been released called This is Still Not a Book, which is the same concept, but with different prompts for creative engagement with the ‘book’. 

Press Here, by Herve Tullet

This is a great book to help you and your child connect. Each page asks the reader to do something that will manipulate the dot, so children will feel like they are making the changes on each page. It’s as close to a screen as a book can get. Plus if you do have a child who is already reading they can follow the instructions themselves as the words are fairly straight forward.

Tullet has several books that fall into this category. Others that we’ve enjoyed include Mix It Up and Let’s Play. These are also available as board books which makes them super toddler friendly.

This is Frog, This is Owl, This is Crab, by Jacqui Lee

This series does have one main ‘character’, a crab, owl, and frog respectively. Readers are introduced to the animal and on each page are instructed to do something that will help the animal. Sometimes they are clapping or tapping, sometimes they need to turn the book around. Great for preschoolers, these books are bright and colourful.