Daisy Gets Dressed: A Book About Patterns

A young girl needs help finding different articles of clothing among the many zigzag, checkered, striped, and other patterned objects in her home.

PreSchool-Grade 2–Bright fabrics, colorful beads, sequins, buttons, and embroidery create a clever introduction to patterns. Readers are asked to help a little girl get dressed: "Where can Daisy's/undershirt be?/And how many zigzag/things can you see?" One fourth of the spread shows the youngster against a zigzag background; the rest depicts her undershirt among items that include shark's teeth, a saw, etc. The patterned objects are identified at the bottom of the page. The book continues consistently in this manner until Daisy is ready to play. Other designs explored include checks, stripes, spots, and spirals. Good fun for lap reading and storytimes.–Linda Staskus, Parma Regional Library, OH
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PreS-K. On every spread of this unconventional seek-and-find book, children must locate a patterned piece of clothing to complete little girl Daisy's outfit. The sought-after item appears somewhere among similarly patterned objects, all identified at the bottom of the page. An undershirt with zig-zag stripes can be found near a stegosaurus whose jagged spines suggest a zig-zag line; a flowery cardigan sweater shares space with rose-print curtains. A necklace of successively increasing beads provides one more element for children to discover on every spread. The book's purpose seems rather nebulous, with too many skill areas addressed in tandem, and the unexpected places in which some of the patterns appear may leave some children struggling to make the conceptual leap between patterns printed on fabric and organic patterns visible in nature. What distinguishes this from other I Spy ventures is Beaton's prowess with scissors, needle, and thread. Children will delight in the novelty of familiar objects reproduced in "vintage antique fabrics" and embellished with sequins, beads, and embroidery. Jennifer Mattson
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