Showing posts with label body parts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label body parts. Show all posts

Saturday, November 20, 2010

The Everything Book, by Denise Fleming

Fleming, Denise. The Everything Book. Henry Holt and Company, 2000. 26 pages. $25.99, ISBN 978-0805088694

AGE LEVEL
1 and 2 year-olds

GENRE
Board Book

REVIEW
In this board book, Fleming really does cover a little bit of everything, including introductions to the alphabet, numbers, body parts, facial expressions, colors, shapes, and seasons.  Notably, the sections on shapes and faces will help pre-readers prepare to develop letter knowledge.  The two-page spread on shapes shows not only triangles, circles, and squares in isolation on the left panel, but also includes a cheery scene of houses and mountains on the right panel which places the shapes in a real-world context. The two-page spread of eight babies' and childrens’ faces exhibits diversity in ethnicities/races, genders, and facial expressions depicted.   Although due to the large variety of concepts it contains, this book verges on the disjointed in a few instances, the striking multi-colored dyed-pulp illustrations effectively mitigate this issue.  Their richness makes one stop and savor each depicted concept separately.  This book is a good choice for babies and toddlers alike.

LIBRARY PROGRAMMING IDEAS
Although this board book version would be most appropriate for one-on-one parent-child sharing, a picture book version would be an excellent choice for infant storytime.