Herve Tullet

Hello!

     Being that I subscribe to every publisher, author, and book review under the sun, I kept seeing praise for a book called Push Here by Herve Tullet.  It has been on the New York Times bestsellers list for 3 YEARS so I could not believe that I had not heard of it.  
     My research about Herve Tullet and Press Here was extremely interesting.  Tullet is a French author that also illustrates all of his books.  In regards to specifics about Press Here, it has been translated into more than thirty languages, been made into a board game and even has an app for people to interact.  What is so amazing about this book?!?!  The next day, I went straight to the bookstore to find out more about this mysterious book and author for myself.

(http://www.amazon.com/Press-Here-Herve-Tullet/dp/0811879542/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418087522&sr=8-1&keywords=push+here)

     Press Here is an interactive book.  Each page tells the reader to do an action and then the outcome is shown on the following page.  For example, when you tap the dot in the center of the page twice, the next page shows two dots.  It is pretty exciting to do as the author requests and then to see it happen in a hardcover book.  This is something that you might see with an automated book on an iPad but definitely has never been done with a paper book.  It is truly something that you must experience for yourself and you will smile the entire time as you are reading.

     While flipping through this book, I pondered ways in which it could be used in the classroom.  Easily, it could be used in a lower elementary classroom to engage students and teach them about predictions.  When reading the book, there is a pattern that emerges and it would be fun for students to guess what is going to happen next when they follow the directions.  As a read aloud, students would love coming up to the book to do as the author requests.  In the older elementary classroom, teachers could use this to show students how they must always interact with the text and be an active, rather than passive, reader.  Even though this would be read at a much faster pace and seem extremely simplistic for this age group, using it to demonstrate how text should always be interacted with (even if you are not physically touching it) would be a beneficial lesson, especially at the beginning of the year.

(http://www.amazon.com/Mix-Up-Herve-Tullet/dp/1452137358/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418089733&sr=8-1&keywords=mix+it+up)

     After reading Push Here, I had to see other books by Herve Tullet.  Mix It Up is the sequel to Push Here.  Just like the first one, Mix It Up has the reader follow directions and the outcome to the action is shown on the following page.  Unlike Push Here, which focused on numbers and patterns, Mix It Up involves colors and shades. An art class could certainly use this to show what happens when colors are mixed or when white and black are added to a color.  Especially if a teacher does not have the materials or is uncomfortable with allowing students to experiment with paint, Mix It Up can help students to test theories about color without getting messy.

(http://www.amazon.com/Help-Need-Title-Herve-Tullet/dp/0763670219/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418090260&sr=8-1&keywords=help+we+need+a+title)

     My favorite Herve Tullet book is Help!  We Need a Title!  This book not only has adorable, kid-like illustrations, but the author himself makes a cameo as a character in the story!  As soon as the book is opened, the characters immediately start talking to the reader.  The interaction between the reader and the characters reminded me of a few Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books where it feels like they are talking directly to you.  The premise of this book is that the characters want to put together a story to entertain us, the reader.  In order to do so, they need to create a few important story elements such as a setting, plot and even a protagonist.  Each of the characters is unique and would make any child (or adult, for that matter) smile with their quirky personalities.  After awhile, they cannot think of any story ideas so they have to call in the main man himself, Herve Tullet!  As a half picture/half drawing, Tullet comes into the story and saves the day, even though the picky characters are not 100% happy with the outcome.

     For any grade level, students would love to read this book independently or have it read to them.  It could also be used to teach a myriad of writing skills from story elements to characterization to dialogue.  Even taking Herve Tullet's "so-so" story (as the characters describe it) and adding more suspense and action using the foundation that is given would be a creative writing project for older students.  All around Help!  We Need a Title!  is a highly recommended read for teachers, parents and students of all ages.

     I am so happy that I took the time to not only find Push Here, but then to seek out other books by Herve Tullet.  He is certainly an imaginative, unique, and innovative author that brings hardcover books back to life.  Enjoy reading these and others by this incredible author!