List Price: $16.95
Official URL: http://www.workman.com/
Age Range: 3 years and up
Rating: :4 stars:

My Mommy’s Tote is a cute activity toy and board book that offers many entertaining components, some of which detach from the book. It’s great for travel or home and provides hours of stimulating play for your preschool age child.

THE STORY

My Mommy’s Tote has text on each page and reads like a slightly complicated board book. It is not a traditional story with a plot but rather an entertaining narration from a child’s perspective. The child talks about the different similarities and differences between her and her mom. I say “her” because one page talks about playing dress up, but the book could really be considered gender neutral as far as perspective of the narrator. Some pictures of the “me” depicted are of a girl and some are of a boy. The child talks about how her mommy likes some things that she doesn’t and how they are both clever. While it’s not a book I would sit down and “read” to my daughter very often, it’s a very cute way to encourage individuality and conversation between parents and children.

ENTERTAINMENT/EDUCATIONAL VALUE

These two areas are the book’s real strength. My 3-year-old daughter disappears with this tote for extended periods of time. The different flaps that open and detachable components are fascinating to her. Detachable components include a credit card, laptop computer and keys, all made of cardboard. There is also a built-in dry erase board with a marker included. The marker has an eraser attached to its cap for convenience. There are many other fold outs, flaps and indented features that will hone your child’s powers of observation. The text could be a good conversation starter about how a mommy and her child are alike and how they are different. Since most preschool kids are very into pretend play, the fact that the detachable components represent the things real mommies carry with them gives plenty of fodder for the imagination.

DURABILITY

This is a very weak point for this product. There are several items that protrude from the top of the book, making an irregular top edge. Most of these components were already bent or broken when I took it out of the box. It is made from a heavy cardboard material but the shape and size of the items on top that were damaged makes them vulnerable to breaking. For example, the top of the cell phone sticks out above the pages and its small antenna tore off with very little wear and tear. Also, the dry erase marker is held in place by a small plastic loop just below the dry erase board. This loop tore off the first time we attempted to put the marker back through it and was unable to be repaired. The cover and carrying handle of the book appear to be sturdy but on the whole, I was disappointed with the quality of construction.

BOTTOM LINE

My Mommy’s Tote is a very creative and extensively entertaining toy/book for the preschool age group. Because many components are easily broken, a toddler would need to be carefully supervised when using this book. Overall, I think its propensity to entertain outweighs the minor inconvenience of some broken pieces.