First Steps: Letters, Numbers, Colors, Opposites

Combining whimsical illustrations and a brief text, a colorful concept book introduces toddlers to the letters of the alphabet, colors, numbers, and opposites.

Ages 2-4. This beginning concept book presents quarter-, half-, and full-page illustrations for each letter, number, color, and opposite. All the pictures are of items familiar from everyday life (playmates and umbrellas) or book life (yaks and zebras). The colored ink and colored pencil drawings are the book's strength. They are particularly successful in emphasizing facial expressions, especially on the animals, who frequently look quizzical, hard-working, independently determined, or, most of all, patient with the young person joyously taking first steps around them. Mary Harris Veeder