Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Carry and Learn Shapes
Novelty Board Book
For infants to children age 3
Scholastic, 2015 ISBN: 978-0545797917
Teaching children basic shapes can be a lot of fun. Adults often invite children to find squares, triangles, rectangles and other shapes in their world around them, and the game can be enjoyed indoors and out. With this book in hand children have the opportunity to experience shapes in a new and interactive way.
On every spread we are presented with a large, brightly colored shape on one page. On the facing page is a picture, and the shape featured on that spread is part of the picture. In each of the first five spreads in the book the shapes in the pictures include a novelty feature. Each one is textured, or sparkly, or is part of a lift-the-flap.
For example, on the circle page we are presented with a picture of an apple tree and there is a circular hole in the trunk of the tree. Text on the page tells us that there is a “Secret hiding spot” in the picture and sure enough, when we pull a tab, a squirrel appears in the hole and it asks us “can you run really fast?”
At the back of the book the pictures we saw on the spreads are combined to give us a nighttime backyard scene, and we once again are given opportunity to find the shapes we explored in the book.
In addition to giving children a way to learn about shapes, this book also offers up additional built-in novelty features. The first five shape pages have sturdy little tabs that children can use to open the pages, and there is a built in handle that make this a perfect book to carry around.
