Author: Roxanne Kiely
Illustrator: Jeesoo Kim
ISBN: 978-0-646-94104-2
RRP: $14.99

Children’s books are generally ones that you read over and over…and over and over again, especially when they are ones that the children love. Now, any Book that you read a million times is going to get irritating for an adult but depending on how the book is written that can be exacerbated, or minimised.

We have looked at a few children’s books of late and the others have been very nature-centred and the illustrations are enough to keep little readers entertained for hours.

The characters are named with great alliteration or rhyme; we have Busy Izzy, Even Evan, Mathematic Max, Bossy Bobby, Worried Warren, Talkative Tess, Sensible Steven, Modern Mo Li, Secret-agent Skye and Newly Truly the rescue pup.

Busy Izzy is an intelligent and industrious young lady who always knows what to do. She makes delicious healthy snacks and has a section of the store for everyone.

There are books, instruments, snacks, nix and nax (of course) as well as camaraderie and teamwork. Busy Izzy always knows what to do so she is always willing to help out and do what she can when there’s someone in trouble. Lost pets, injured birds, snow to shovel, bikes to fix – Busy Izzy loves to be busy.

The first book comes with a CD of special songs created just for Busy Izzy to get your little learners up and moving, and learning their alphabet. At the back of the book there are a couple of Busy Izzy’s favourite recipes for healthy snaxalicious snacks that you can make at home with the kids.

Busy Izzy is set to be a 10 book series and I have been reading the first two.

Busy Izzy and Friends introduces us to Izzy and her friends while giving us a bit of a look at the store and their home town of Green Grass Grove.

Included in the back of this book is a CD with sing-along-songs and a narration of the first book. The songs are reminiscent of Play School to me, so they are low on tech, high on harmony and energy and sure to get your children up and moving as they sing-along.

Busy Izzy and Newly Truly The Big Surprise takes us away from Nix & Nax, which is left in the capable hands of Izzy’s friends, to the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) to adopt a pet.

This book gives us an insight into SPCA shelters, the one Izzy visits is filled with all sorts of animals, not just the ones you would think of as domestic pets. Izzy finds a puppy that she just can’t leave behind and so Newly Truly finds a forever friend, and home, with Izzy.

Through fun rhymes and vibrant pictures we learn about pets, their signals and their care; feeding, playing and reading what they want through their body language. Newly Truly is also a very special pup who tells the story of how he came to be a rescue pup, an informative story that everyone needs to be reminded of to reduce the number of dogs, and all other animals, in rescue shelters.

Again the book ends with a few pages of recipes that can be made with your little learner. Some of them actually sound very delicious and I am going to test them out.

The Busy Izzy books have been endorsed by the World Literacy Foundation and part proceeds of the sale of Busy Izzy books are donated to worldliteracyfoundation.org

10 of our Beauty and Lace club members are lucky enough to be singing and reading along to Busy Izzy with their children thanks to Busy Ink and Wordstorm PR so I am looking forward to hearing what they think in the comments below.

Busy Izzy is available through selected bookstores, Booktopia, Book Depository and Busy Ink.