The boys all enjoy Olly the Little White Van and we have a couple of Olly DVDs at home. I was pleased to hear about a new range of Olly the Little White Van Books that have been published by Autumn Children’s Books.
It’s always been important to me to develop a love of reading and like most children, they tend to respond well to books with familiar characters in.
The range includes 4 chunky board books which are perfect for the youngest Olly fans. There is Bazza the van, Jethro the tractor, Royston the fire engine and of course Olly the little white van! These books are so bright and colourful so they immediately grabbed Mr R’s attention. He loves to leaf through books on his own as well as having a story read to him, and these are ideal for his independent book exploration as they are so sturdy with thick pages.
The stories in each of these books are quite short and simple with rhyming text throughout. They kept Mr R’s attention well. He enjoyed listening to the words and pointing to relevant things within the pictures, with his favourite part being Royston the fire engine rescuing a cat stuck up a tree.
The range also includes two story books and two activity books. The stories are “The Bumpton Rally” and “The Chauffer.” They boys all enjoyed listening to these. There is more text on each page than the board books so these require a longer attention span and were better for Mr T and Mr Z. The stories in these are a lot more detailed.
I think the stories must be from episodes of the show as Mr Z straight away took the Bumpton Rally book and said “let’s read this one it’s awesome”, then told me exactly who wins the race before we started to read the book! Knowing what happens in the story didn’t seem to hinder the boys enjoyment of the story at all; they enjoyed the familiarity of the characters and the story. I would say Mr Z at 5 years old is towards the top of the age range for these books, and they will most suit children of around 3-5 years, with the board books suiting 1-3 years.
The activity books have a variety of activities, one with colouring and stickers and the other with a variety of dot to dot, mazes and more – alongside press out pieces. These are great for keeping the kids busy!
This is a lovely range with something to suit all little Olly fans, and was definitely enjoyed by my boys.
What do you think to the books? Let me know in the comments.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
That looks like a lovely range, love the variety!
That’s a fab range of books, perfect for your boys. I love the final photo of them all looking at different books.
They look brilliant, I may have to source these!
Love your photos! Great books by the sound of it x
hi these look great fun and love the bright bold colours great review thank you
My little brother would love these! x #readwithme
I love board books, these are now on my list to get my godson. thanks for linking up with #ReadWithMe I have tweeted and pinned this post x
These books look great, and I think all kids love stickers.
These look like lovely books, especially the chunky books for really small ones.
They look like lovely books for boys!
These look great and anything with stickers is an added bonus.
This looks like a lovely range of books. My son would probably really like the activity books. #readwithme