The Tessy & Tab Fan Club

Tessy & Tab on Vacation in Wisconsin...

From Renee, Bailey's mom:

Below is a picture of my daughter Bailey who is 3 years old.  It was taken on our summer vacation at Lake Lawn Lodge in Wisconsin a few weeks back.

Her Tessy and Tab books accompany us wherever we go.  Keep up the good work!

Nicky *NEEDS* a tote bag...

From Iris, Nichole's grandmother:

Nicky is 4 and she loves your books. She is always carrying around a stack of them so we will read to her. She looks forward to getting them in the mail. I want to thank whoever came up with the idea for these books. Nicky loves to have them read to her over and over again. She has saved all of them since I started the subscription.

 

I know Nicky would LOVE to have her own Tessy and Tab tote bag. When she tries to carry about 20 Tessy and Tab books at one time, she is always dropping them along the way. A special tote bag for her special books would be perfect! Thanks again and keep up the good work!

Who's happy now?

From Corie, Carson's mom:

I thought you would like to see a picture of Carson with her Tessy & Tab tote bag.

She LOVES it!   

 

It's her new "go-to" bag! She likes how it fits her Tessy & Tab books perfectly.

Cute shoes, Peek-a-Bug, and a happy ending!

From Kathrin, Trevor's mom:

I just wanted to say thank you so much for Tessy and Tab. My 2 ½ -year old son, Trevor, loves his “Tessy Tab”.  He looks forward to receiving every issue when they arrive. He actually opens the package himself and says, “Mommy, my ‘Tessy Tab’ is here.” Every night before we go to bed, Trevor takes his “Tessy Tabs” out of my night stand drawer so I can read them to him. He loves looking for Peek-A-Bug and always asks me, “Why is Peek-A-Bug hiding behind there, Mommy?”. 

 

Recently, Trevor did not receive his Fire Station issue of “Tessy Tab”, so I sent an email stating what had happened. I attached a picture of Trevor wearing an interesting pair of shoes. Well, Judy responded stating that she would send a copy of the Fire Station issue and include an issue of “Tessy and Tab Shop For Shoes” because she liked the shoes Trevor was wearing.  When latest issues arrived, Trevor was so excited. I told him that we needed to take picture with all  of his “Tessy Tabs” and send it to you. He gathered all of them and placed them on his bed so that I could take the picture seen here.

 

I am so glad I discovered this important learning resource for my son. He not only learns his numbers, letters, and colors, but also comprehends the meaning of the stories. I like the paper quality and the size. The bright colors are cool also. I recommended Tessy and Tab to my coworker and she purchased a subscription for her son. He loves it too!

 

Thanks again!

The gift that keeps on giving...

From Bonnie, Maci's mom:

My 2.5yr old daughter, Maci, loves Tessy & Tab. She has been receiving them for over a year (it was a gift from a family friend).  We read them so much that she can actually read some of the books to me (memorizing them of course). It is really cute. We have saved all of the books and she piles them up in her room. When it is time for bed she picks out a couple for my husband and me to read her.  When I get the mail she always asks me if there is a Tessy & Tab for her.

 

Thank you for providing such a wonderful experience for our family.

Raising a reader on Tessy & Tab...

From Robin, Autumn's mom:

Autumn has been receiving Tessy and Tab since before she was able to read and it has remained among her favorites.  She just turned 5 in April and began reading on her own earlier in the year so it is an exciting time for her and Tessy and Tab magazines/books are wonderful.  We just put them right on the bookshelf and keep them all, so it adds to our at-home library and Autumn gets to read them again and again.  Recently, she pulled out one of the issues where Tessy and Tab make masks and decided to do it herself too.  It was fun.

Her favorite thing, lately, has been to recreate Tessy and Tab adventures with her own animals and figurines.  She usually begins with a story line from one of the issues and then weaves in her own details and ideas and ends up with quite an adventure and attentively playing for 20-30 minutes. 

To say that we enjoy Tessy and Tab and find them useful and valuable, especially now that Autumn is a beginning reader, is an understatement and the excitement goes well beyond Autumn enjoying getting her own mail.  We were delighted to send a gift subscription to one of our nieces for her birthday in February and hear that she's enjoying them too.

Oh, and I think we'll enjoy the questions more than the coloring page.  Autumn never wanted to color hers because she views them as books rather than magazines so I think it was a good and value added move that will benefit all the young minds who enjoy Tessy and Tab.

Madison wants Pizza on the airplane too...

From Madison's mom, Kristina:

My daughter Madison, 28 months old, loves getting her Tessy & Tab books in the mail!  This is really the only piece of mail she receives addressed just to her. The label says "Happy Reading from Mommy, Daddy, & Makenna!"   Madison thinks it is very cool that it includes her sister's name too!

Since Madison was 3 months old, we have taken her on numerous airplane trips to go on vacation.  She has always done a great job flying but we always still talk about it before we go the airport each time so she isn't scared and knows what to expect.

I have to tell you how great it was for her to have her Tessy & Tab Airplane Trip book to not only read before we went on the airplane but also on the airplane!  It was PERFECT to use as a guide to what would happen along our entire journey!  She even helped to pick out which of her Tessy & Tab books she was going to bring in her carry-on suitcase just like Tessy did!  The only part that made her sad was wondering why Tessy & Tab got to eat pizza on the airplane and her Mommy had packed her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and applesauce to eat!!

Thanks so much for finding a very cool way to introduce children to different real-life situations and letting them truly relate to Tessy & Tab's adventures!  My husband and I could not be happier with the content of the books and the extent to which

Madison learns from each story. She loves her books and we can't wait for her sister to get a little older and enjoy the books as much as Madison does!

Here is a picture of Madison reading her Tessy & Tab Airplane Trip book on the airplane!

Special request from a 3-year old...

                  ***** Staff Favorite *****

From Eva's mom, Carmi:

First, I want to tell you that Eva (almost 4 now) loves getting mail and she LOVES her growing collection of magazines. I told her I would write to you with a request: she's noticed that her name on the address label doesn't end in an 'a'.  Well, it does end in an 'a', but not one she recognizes.  Is there any way you could use a different font for the addresses so that the lower case 'a' is the style that young kids recognize? I suppose this will be an even bigger issue for her little brother, Isaac!

By the way, we love the magazine -- you've done a great job with it. We tell everyone about it.

From Judy Johnston, CEO and Publisher of Tessy & Tab:

Thanks for writing! Your story confirms something we've felt to be true since we began publishing in 2002 - very young children really care about what their name looks like. It's the main reason that we brought all of our data management in-house and online. We found that data entry people in big fulfillment houses are not careful enough. Plus, we go the extra step to have the addresses printed in larger than typical letters so that it's easier for a young child to recognize their own name.

Two years ago we arranged to have a new "a" created for the typeface we use inside the magazine for exactly the reason you've outlined. We had not looked into the specifics of the font for our address labels but with Eva's concern as our motivation, we spoke with our vendor who prints the labels. They did a little research and found a font that uses the "one-story a" that Eva will recognize and the font change will be made on our next issue.

Please be sure and tell Eva "thank you" for bringing this to our attention -- you have helped us solve a problem that likely is noticed by lots of kids!

We checked back with Carmi after a couple of issues with the new address font were mailed:

Yes, Eva noticed the change immediately.  In fact, that was the first thing she said, "Look mom, they spelled my name right!"  Thank you so much for making the effort to make that change.  It was clearly very important to Eva.

I snapped a photo of Eva the last time Tessy & Tab arrived.  It's a little fuzzy but this is pretty much her expression EVERY time a Tessy & Tab arrives.

 

 

The 4-minute bedtime routine...

From Sophie's mom, Kate:

We've been subscribers for almost a year and my daughter Sophie really enjoys them. We've learned some valuable lessons like cleaning up toys to give to others or being prepared to go to the dentist. But one of my favorite things about Tessy & Tab is that you can read 4 or 5 issues in less that 5 minutes! It makes my daughter happy to read more books and it makes me happy because we can do it quickly and get the kids to bed. 

We've given several friends the birthday pack and they have been LOVING their issues! I always tell the moms they will be so happy to have something that takes 4 minutes to read at bedtime when you need to read 7 books.... :-)!

"I can be brave like Tab"...

                  ***** Staff Favorite *****

From Keith's mom, Grace:

I ordered the Kindergarten Countdown kit a few months ago and Keith really loved the Tessy and Tab books from the kit. I decided to subscribe to the magazine. Keith is an early reader and Tessy and Tab has become one of his favorite books to read.

One of the best things for me was how the ‘Tab Gets a Shot’ book really worked. In the past, Keith was scared of getting a shot and cried every time. We read the issue showing Tab going to the doctor and being brave when he gets a shot. When the day came and we went to the doctor, Keith did not cry when he got his shot. Instead, he proudly said to me "See, I can be brave like Tab". Now I am looking forward to see if the Visit the Dentist issue will help him be brave for the dentist! Here is a picture of him with his complete collection of Tessy & Tab:

Tessy & Tab Fairy Ring...

                  ***** Staff Favorite *****

From Gianna's mom, Corinne:

Tessy & Tab is the first mail with Gianna's name on it and she LOVES getting her own mail. When a new issue arrives, she often grabs all of her other issues and lines them up in a circle (see photo). She likes to see if she can remember the sequence in which they arrived. Gianna adores the characters, and the level is just perfect -- a reading challenge that is not too hard to overcome. I'm also impressed by her comprehension level as she will talk about Tessy or Tab in a parallel real life situation. 

Thanks so much for creating this wonderful series!

After 3 years, he still loves Tessy and Tab...

From Jason's mom, Lisa:

My son, Jason, has been receiving the Tessy and Tab books for 3 years and loves them. I do too. I used to have to read them to him and now he is reading them to me! The characters are so appealing -- I think you should make videos, TV shows and more. Thanks for bringing a fun subscription based magazine to me!

Hanging out with Tessy & Tab...

                  ***** Staff Favorite *****

From his father, Jeff:

I just came across this photo of Hugh when he was 5 and was inspired to send it on to you. Hugh really loved Tessy and Tab. He would keep them in a little stash at the side of the bed and literally get them all around him and go through them one at a time. I know this photo may seem staged but it was very spontaneous. Tessy and Tab was instrumental in helping Hugh begin reading on his own.

One of our past subscribers...

From Hannah's mom, Lisa:

I remember the first time Hannah read a word all by herself. We were sitting together in the back seat of our car driving down to the beach and we were looking at the new Tessy & Tab book she'd just received in the mail. Hannah always started looking at her magazines from the back. First she would take off her address label to find the password. Then she would look at the Find page and see the pictures she was going to look for and then she had to count each object on the count page to make sure they were all there.
And then we would read the book together. I would point and sound out the words and she would listen and repeat what I said while looking at EVERY detail of EVERY page.

Until one day when, sitting in the back of the car I pointed to a word and she read it out loud --  Drip! -- I thought I was going to faint. She was 4 and it wasn't long after that she was reading a whole Tessy & Tab book by herself.

Five years later all 39 of her lightly jam-stained, slightly crayon marked Tessy & Tab magazines sit in a box in my closet waiting for the next visit from our little 5-year-old cousin who will bring out the books for her big fourth grade TAG cousin to read to her.
Thank you Blue Lake!

Here is what Hannah had to say:

Hi. My name is Hannah and I am nine years old when I was four my favorite book was Pool Fun! I liked it because I liked to swim and I liked to see Tessy and Tab swim. The books are colorful and short enough for kids to read but they have a lot of detail and I like that. Now my favorite book is the airplane trip because I like airplanes. I still love reading my Tessy & Tab books.