All About Shape

PreSchool-Grade 2?These unexciting titles do little to foster true learning experiences. Even though Yates tries to spice up the dull reading with various activity boxes, they, too, are lacking in child appeal. The watercolor artwork is small and vague; some of the pictures are hard to read or it is difficult to understand the comparisons being presented. In Shape, too much is covered in too brief a format to be of much educational value. Touch has similar problems. Comparisons between wet and dry, hot and cold, hard and soft are above the understanding of preschoolers without firsthand experience. Tana Hoban's Take Another Look (1981) and Shapes, Shapes, Shapes (1986, both Greenwillow) provide visually appealing true-life photographs that can enhance vocabulary development when shared with an adult. Allan Fowler's Feeling Things (Children's Press, 1991) uses photographs to introduce touch.?Stephani Hutchinson, Pioneer Elementary School, Sunnyside, WA
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