First sentence: That's not my teddy. Its nose is too soft. That's not my teddy. Its feet are too rough. That's not my teddy. Its patch is too squashy.

Premise/plot: One of the books in the THAT'S NOT MY....series by USBORNE. This one stars a teddy bear. Each spread features a touch-and-feel element for little ones to experience. The text--as you can see from my "first sentence" is predictable. (Which is not a bad quality for a board book for the youngest of readers). It is patterned.

My thoughts: I have a weakness for touch and feel books. That does not mean I approach them without a critical eye. One of my pet peeves is when publishers try to pass off "shiny" as a texture to touch or feel. I enjoyed this one. The elements to touch (and feel) were good--for the most part.

This board book I'm rating five stars because ALL of the touch and feel elements were solidly good. There were many that I found appealing and fun. I enjoyed the rough feet of the Panda. If the book has a weakness, which I didn't really feel was a deal breaker for me, was the similarity between all of the textures. There were only two textures that offered differences--the "squashy" texture of the patch and the rough texture of the paws (of the Panda). The rest were just variations of "woolly, soft, fuzzy, and furry." Again, I loved all those textures so I didn't find it problematic for me. ( )

Introduce your child to the concept of ownership with one of the first in the amazingly successful series that also includes 'That's Not My Puppy' and 'That's Not My Train'. Coming soon - introduce your teenager to the modern concept of responsibility via 'That's Not My Fault... She Wasn't Looking What She Was Doing', 'That's Not My Child... I Never Even Met Her' and 'That's Not My Pay Grade... I'm Not Doing It'. ( )

Imagine my son's excitement when he realizes this is in the tradition of That's Not My Dragon, which was his favourite book last week when we took this one out with us. It stopped him crying his face off in the Apple Store for like five minutes. The Apple Store. ( )

My seven-month-old daughter enjoys this book and tries to lick all the textured patches. Not the most thrilling book for me, but I've read it about a million times and don't yet scream at the sight of it. I can see how as she gets older it might be fun to have her look for the little mouse on each page. ( )