Sense of Taste

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-Each spread consists of 5 to 10 words and one full-color photograph. The illustrations depict children of different ethnic backgrounds and generally correspond to the text. Most words are simple, and sounds are repeated throughout each text and from book to book. Concluding "Words I Can Read" lists provide pronunciation guidelines and group words into categories such as nouns, adjectives, and verbs. The last page in each volume gives readers a chance to test what they have learned by showing four pictures and four words and asking them to match each word to its picture. Some of these pictures are unclear, and young readers might not know that the green apple is "tart" or that the flower is "sniff" (especially since neither word is used in the text). While little consideration is given to explaining how the senses work, the books are filled with lots of white space and might be suitable as supplements to beginning-reader collections. For youngsters interested in how the senses work, Joanna Cole's You Can't Smell a Flower with Your Ear! (Grossett & Dunlap, 1994) or Aliki's My Five Senses (HarperCollins, 1989) would be more useful.-Shauna Yusko, King County Library System, Bellevue, WA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.