Learning Fun for Little Ones!

Children's Literature

Here is a first book of colors that gets it all right with bright cheerful colors, simple attractive pictures, and an assortment of interactive activities for the youngest reading set. As promised, it is a sturdy jumbo book at 9 inches wide and 11 1/2 inches high. Little ones will want to lie and the floor lifting flaps, turning wheels, sliding slides and running their fingers over the different textures. All of the pages have white backgrounds with borders and illustrations of the appropriate color. In addition to red, blue and yellow there are the blended colors of orange, purple and green to explore, each with wheels to turn to demonstrate which colors come together to make them. In a book as well-conceived as this one is, both parents and children can return again and again to notice things they missed the first time through, such as the fact that the fabric of the raincoat is pleated and feels to the touch as a real raincoat would, and that the bugs under the green leaf have chewed a hole in the leaf. And those who love pop ups will wonder at the design precision of the huge black bear on the last page who is able to tuck his legs between his ears to fit back inside the page. 2002, Scholastic/Cartwheel Books, $9.95. Ages 2 to 6. Reviewer: Eleanor Heldrich