Scholastic First Picture Dictionary

PreSchool-Grade 2–According to the front cover, this book includes more than 800 words and pictures by 16 illustrators. Topics include bodies, houses, schools, cities, shopping, and nature. Each page is bordered along its outside vertical edge. Periodic questions, or riddles, encourage viewers to think about what they are seeing by looking for specific things on the pages. Some pictures are confusing, mainly because they are not drawn to scale. On one page, a pebble is as big as the rock above it. Items supposedly located in a broom closet include a floor mat that looks like a kitchen towel, rubber gloves that are flesh toned and look like hands, and a sewing machine, among other things. Each chapter opens with a transparent overlay that changes the look of the pages on the spread as they are flipped from side to side. Some of these pages are too busy, with such small and undefined illustrations that it is difficult to see them clearly. Stick with what you have.–Kathleen Simonetta, Indian Trails Public Library District, Wheeling, IL
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