Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
My First Book of Shapes
Novelty Board Book
For ages 2 to 4
Scholastic, 2017 ISBN: 978-1338161519
Anyone who has spent time with a little child knows that the best way to teach young children about their world is to give them an interactive learning experience. Teach them about flowers by going for a walk in a garden or a park. Teach them about colors by pointing out different colors, and perhaps by collecting items that are all the same color.
In this book little children are given an interactive way to learn about shapes. Every double page spread is a veritable ode to one particular shape. Bright and colorful photographs of the shape in question cover the pages, and many of the spreads include colorful vinyl windows that children can peek through.
We begin with an exploration of the circle. Pictures of circles and circular objects of all kinds fill the pages; there is a drum, a bead bracelet, buttons, a tomato, a lime, coins, a beach ball, a wheel, a yoyo, and much more. We are asked to point to a circle “you can eat,” and to find the “circle with a happy face.”
Then we are told that a yellow vinyl circle on one on the pages can fit inside something, and when we turn the page we see how the circle fits into a star, which is the next shape that we are going to get to know. On these pages we are asked to find a purple star and we figure out which of the star-shaped things on the page “lives in the sea.”
In all, children get to learn about six shapes as they explore their way through this book.
