All About Opposites (My First Easy and Fun Books)

Rosy Rabbit and her friend Bella learn about opposites while bringing home a package sent by Rosy's grandma.

ea. vol: unpaged. bibliog. (My First Easy and Fun Bks.) CIP. Gareth Ste vens. 1987. PLB $8.95. PreSchool-K In a manner that is adequate although uninspired, these basic con cept books use simple story lines to in troduce colors and opposites. All About Colors follows three bears on a picnic where they eat yellow bananas, red ap ples, 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'' al though 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 under stood easily by preschoolers are intro duced as two rabbits carry a large pack age 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 char acters. 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 cer tainly 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.