That's not my pony.: An Interactive, Sensory Touchy-Feely Book Featuring Animals with Tactile Patches for Babies and Toddlers

That's Not My...

by Fiona Watt, Rachel Wells (Illustrator)

Meet five friendly ponies in this charming addition to the much-loved That's not my… series. Babies love the best-selling That’s not my… books with their bold illustrations, patches to stroke, and a mouse to spot on every page, all designed to develop sensory and language awareness.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Animals, Horses, Fiction, Kids

10 pages, Board Book

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Fiona Watt is an Editorial Director and writer at Usborne Publishing. She started working at Usborne in 1989 and has written and edited hundreds of books including baby and novelty, sticker, art and craft, cookery, science and activity books.
Fiona graduated from Exeter University with a B.Ed. (Hons.), specialising in Psychology and Art and Design. After university she worked as a researcher and writer for a company which published educational material for places where children went on school visits (zoos, museums, stately homes etc). She then taught seven, eight, and nine year olds for five years; three years at a state school in Sevenoaks in Kent, and two years at The British School in the Netherlands in The Hague.

Having joined Usborne in 1989, Fiona became an editorial director in 2003, largely responsible for writing baby and novelty books, as well as art and activity titles. She has written over 100 titles for Usborne Publishing, perhaps most notably the, ‘That’s not my ….‘ touchy-feely series.

Reviews

[Devan Wiebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent journey, I even learnt a new word: "tufty".

[Kate M. Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack borrowed this book from the Ashland Public Library. I picked it because he loves this series and farm animals.

Unfortunately, this pony book has seen far better days. It is clearly well loved by the children of the library system, as many of the fluffy bits were quite matted from use.

However, Jack still enjoyed it. We actually read it backwards, because that is how he wanted to flip through the pages. But he made it through all the pages and even made a neighing noise with the ponies.

[BlackhamBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

When my boys were little, we had (still have it) the "That's Not My Teddy" book, and I remember reading and re-reading (and them "reading" it to me). Then I found there were many of these book, featuring different critters, all very touchy/feely dealing with different descriptions.

Here ...

mane too fluffy
saddle too squishy
patches too velvety
hooves too bumpy
tail too tufty
... nose so soft

As with all these books, the illustrations are cute, and the textures add interest.

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

We got this for our "That's Not My..." collection because both our kids like horses and seem to enjoy this series. While my daughter was excited to see the horse, my son kept pushing it away in favor of That's Not My Truck. Still, this will be a great addition to their collection in a sturdy book form that they can read or play with alone sometimes.

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

In addition to the fun we have with the textured elements, the hidden character on every page, the nouns and adjectives, we are also making up silly rhyming words. For instance, this story inspired squashy/washy, velvety/welvety, bumpy/lumpy, tufty/wufty, and soft/moft.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids loves this series so I occasionally try a different one from the library. A modern day, but more durable version of "Pat the Bunny". Each page has a new texture to feel and touch, and it's a fun quick read a loud book.

[Cherelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely touch and feel book, my son enjoyed exploring all the different textures, seeing all the colourful pictures and horses and also finding the little mouse hiding on each page. Brilliant book for bedtime stories!

[Trevor Winsor · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 out of 5

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a huge usborne book fan, but this one does have some nice textures and some complex vocabulary. Short.

[The Campbell Family · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another adorable installment to this series!

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute board book with ponies!

[Joe Cour · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is lit

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, simple, good variety of touch and feel textures

[OxoNewbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book in the "That's not my..." series. There's different textures for baby to explore and my 10-month old loved touching the pages. Personally, I didn't think the illustrations for this book was as strong as for the other books in the series.

3 stars.

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

That's Not My Pony by Fiona Watt is one in a series of so-called "Touchy-Feely Board Books." The story, as far as I can tell, involves a small white mouse who, for reasons unstated, is searching for his pony. The tale picks up in medias res, as he encounters various ponies, none of which are his. These ponies have various traits by which the mouse concludes that the pony is not his (e.g., mane is too fluffy, saddle is too soft, etc.). The fact that the ponies bear no resemblance to each other, are different colors and sizes, etc., does not occur to the mouse. The mouse eventually finds the pony.

This book was okay, I guess. I think the selling point is the different materials that you get to touch as you read. If you are a toddler, this presumably will enhance the narrative and perhaps allow you to associate the different sensory experiences with the descriptive words in the text. The story was severely lacking. The mouse's character arc just felt incomplete. How does a mouse own a pony? What does he need it for? How did he lose it? He learns nothing, and nothing convinces me that, now that he has found his pony, he will not just immediately lose it again.

It's an interesting experiment with what one can accomplish through the physical medium of the book, but the story itself just feels half-heartedly pasted on.

[Asho · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 21-month-old finds this book quite appealing, and I think she would have loved it as a younger baby, too. She likes when I read it out loud to her, but she'll also take the initiative to sit down and "read" it to herself, feeling all the pictures. I think she's going to be bummed when this one has to go back to the library!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has great sensory words and is great for babies. Also, the touchy-feely pages help interest children in books. Look for the mouse on each page. Check out my page to purchase this book: www.ubah.com/s2995

[Carley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, very short, fun. Good repetitive board book.

[Tammy King Carlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erik's mom gave this to Andrew for Christmas, and he has hardly let it out of his sight.

[Christybturner · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book for baby.

[Kristin Fletcher-spear]

read @ babysteps program.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the touchy feely books this one is the first one my daughter really focused in on, on her own. She loves to feel the pages on her own and carries the book around and brings it for me to read.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Touch and feel book that worked well for a small 2 year old group that I shared it with.

[Robin Raines-Bond · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favorite book in this Usborne touchy-feely series of "That's Not My...." The pictures are just adorable.

[Loree · Rating 4 out of 5]

adorable

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our newest edition to the board book shelf. Baby loves it. :-)

[Addie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute! Some fun sensory patches and descriptions in this one! 20 month old and I loved it!