Today's review: ABCity Maze and Seek-N-Find by Roxie Munro

I love to get my hands on books such as today's read...which isn't a read so much as an activity with a few words thrown in. But it does practice the ABCs and word identification. It's a seek-n-find combined with mazes book. Plus, there's some coloring possibilities as well. In other words, this one appears to be something perfect for those indoor days.

ABCITY: MAZE & SEE-N-FIND

by Roxie Munro

Schiffer Kids

Children's Activity

32 pages

ages 6 to 12

Take a walk through ABCity! Seek and find all 26-letters of the alphabet as you travel through an intricate maze of sidewalks and paths. In each of the 13 bustling mazes, look for cleverly hidden objects that correspond to each of the letters hidden within the streets and signs. From airplanes and ambulances to zebras and zippers, the maze weaves through the city as you help Chris and his dog Rusty find their way from A to Z. Answer keys are provided in the back, along with a large, two-sided, foldout poster of the city--one side to display and the other side to color. Jump-start your child's learning while having fun walking this unique one-of-a-kind city maze!

This maze book features the following:
- Oversized, full-color interior that engages young minds to interact with the alphabet in a new and unique way
- 13 educational and entertaining puzzles designed to help improve fine motor, problem-solving, and visual-perceptual skills
- Foldout, removable poster to display or color
- Final spread shows the entire ABC City

Created for puzzle-loving kids, the maze contains some complicated tricks. It's mind-bending, super-challenging, and highly visual fun for the entire family.

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MY TIDBITS

Featuring the busy streets of a city, these pages offer mazes and many things to discover along the way.

First, I should point out that I received a digital copy of this book, which made it more difficult to review then I expected, since this didn't allow for the same turning easy the mazes required nor the 2-page spreads, which would have made both maze and finding aspects easier. Plus, I did not get to view the removable poster and can't comment on that. So, my thoughts are limited on what I could see.

The illustrations offer the exact business needed to make a seek-n-find fun and did a good job at bringing across the variety and energy of each scene. It was enjoyable to search through everything to find the list of items and discover much more along the way.

The seek-n-find items are listed in a small, clear circle on each 2-page spread, and these are sorted in alphabetical order to also encourage practicing the ABCs. There are about seven items on each list, all of which are familiar and no problem to recognize in the illustrations...when they are discovered, of course. At the end of the book, the location of each item is presented on an overview of the entire city to help with those items, which might prove a bit difficult. Some items are easier to find than others, but none are overly difficult and fit well to the intended audience level.

As for the maze, I found this to be confusing and didn't really understand what was meant. I'm hoping this will be more clear when the 2-pages lie next to each other and when the entire map is viewable on the poster. But I really couldn't decipher much with the digital format. So, I'm going to leave this aspect out of the review.

The book does appear to be quite a bit of fun, especially if the poster offers a nice overview and the coloring is as detailed as I expect it might be. Seek-n-find fans will enjoy the fun.