Review: The Hardest Hidden Pictures Book Ever

Available now from Highlights Press

Review copy

 

I can remember Highlights magazine from my elementary-school days. Decades later, Highlights Press is still publishing books for children. The Hardest Hidden Pictures Book Ever is an activity book for ages eight through twelve, approximately. There are hidden-picture activities on every page, as well as an overall hidden picture activity for the whole book. In the back are the answers.

 

There is an appealing mix of puzzles in The Hardest Hidden Pictures Book Ever. Some art is in color, some black and white, some photographs. Some are small and fit four to a page, some fill a whole spread. In some the objects are identified for you. Others have clues and you have to identify the objects. This book might be mostly full of visual puzzles, but there are some verbal skills involved as well. The hard puzzle has no clues, except for stating how many objects are hidden.

I think a twelve-year-old could easily do these puzzles alone, but an eight-year-old might need a little help. Either way, with more than 80 puzzles, there's enough to keep kids occupied for a while and coming back for more. I also like that the pages are slightly thicker than a basic coloring book so there's less chance of a pencil poking through the page.

The Hardest Hidden Pictures Book ever is a good choice for the child who likes hidden pictures puzzles. This is a nicely made, thick activity book.

Review: The Magical Unicorn Activity Book

By Glenda Horne

Available now from Castle Point Books

Review copy

Unicorns are having a moment, and The Magical Unicorn Activity Book is a great choice for any young unicorn fan bored at home. (Can I say that author Glenda Horne has the perfect name for writing about unicorns?) This is a thick book with heavy paper and a wide range of activities.

In The Magical Unicorn Activity Book, there are images to color, paths to follow, dots to connect, shadows to match, crosswords to fill in, and more. Most of the activities are on the simpler side, since the age range of this book is four to eight, but some might cause an eight-year-old to stretch themself.

What I don't like is that there are several activities that require cutting and pasting. These can't be easily done on the go, and they destroy the activity on the opposite side of the page. I didn't like these sorts of activities as a kid, and I still think they're lower in appeal than the others included in the book.

The included stickers, however, are a great bonus. They're super cute, and there's some nice bigger ones as well as plenty of small ones.

The Magical Unicorn Activity Book includes several styles of unicorns, from very cartoony to looking more like a realistic horse with a horn. None of the designs copy My Little Pony, but I think young MLP fans would enjoy this book.