All About Colors (My First Easy and Fun Books)

Picnicking bears enjoy the green field, yellow bananas, pink cake, and other colorful aspects of their outing.

PreSchool-K In an manner that is adequate although uninspired, these basic concept books use simple story lines to introduce colors and opposites. All About Colors follows three bears on a picnic where they eat yellow bananas, red apples, etc. Most of the color concepts are clear, but ``yellow'' honey and ``brown'' for all three bears (who range from a yellow-tan to dark brown) could be confusing for the intended age group. It is also confusing that one bear's hat is shown as ``orange'' although it is almost the same color as the straw picnic hamper shown as ``brown.'' The illustrations are large, cheerful, and bright with a clear focus. However, they are staticthe bears seem only slightly more animated than the littlest one's teddy bear. All About Opposites is more successful. Size and spatial opposites that will be understood easily by preschoolers are introduced as two rabbits carry a large package home from a post office. Sleight's illustrations, while a bit more stylized than Ward's, again are cheerful and bright with large clear objects and characters. The books use large, easily read type. A one-word concept appears above the related illustration and again in bold print in the text. Although not as useful as Tana Hoban's photographic concept books (Greenwillow), and certainly misnamed since they are by no means ``all'' about anything, these books would be adequate in libraries with a heavy demand for preschool concept books. Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, N.J.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.