Museum Numbers

Teaches readers the basic concept of counting while exposing them to pieces of artwork found in the Museum of Fine Arts' collection

PreSchool-Grade 1-Three board books intended to introduce children to colors, numbers, and shapes. All are colorful and well designed. When closed, the books have step-edged pages that highlight each concept. When opened, the left-hand pages show a work of art from the museum's collection, while the right sides feature the intended concept in bold primary colors and a caption. The most successful of the three books is Colors. The selection of artwork highlighted is child centered, and should be of interest to youngsters. For example, red is illustrated by the red bow on a young boy in a portrait by John Singer Sargent. In some cases just a detail of the artwork is shown. The books conclude with the full works are shown in miniature, along with pertinent information about them. Numbers follows the same approach, but the images are more varied and include a Japanese kimono and Egyptian mummies. Some of the art in Shapes is of questional child appeal, particularly two pieces of furniture and a painting of Bacchus crowning Ariadne with a crown of stars. If the purpose of these books is to showcase the museum's collection, all three are successful. If it is to introduce children to basic concepts while exposing them to the fine arts, Colors and Numbers work remarkably well.
Judith Gloyer, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

These cleverly designed board books use treasures from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to teach the concepts of size, shape and color. On one spread in Numbers , for example, the legend "8 Buttons" faces a painting by Van Gogh; readers can count either the eight buttons drawn beneath the legend or those on the uniform worn by Van Gogh's subject. "Pink ballerinas" can be found in the colors (and composition) of Degas's Dancers in Rose . Voss chooses from an imaginative range of media: the shape of the oval is illustrated by an elegant American dressing glass; an Egyptian mummy and two coffins add up to the number three. Nine flying cranes are embroidered on a Japanese robe, and a Navajo blanket affords numerous examples of the cross shape. Graduated pages coded with colors, numbers and shapes form a viewer-friendly thumb index, and the final pages of each volume supply information about the represented works of art. Ages 1-5.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.