WHAT WILL WE CHOOSE?

This guessing game book has almost too many choices for young children.

Each left-hand page begins, “We are Larry and Lola!” before introducing a common preschool activity—getting dressed, eating, playing house or in the sandbox, taking a bath, going to bed—along with items used for that activity. The facing page asks questions about the activity and invites readers to imagine what they might choose. Then a gatefold opens to show the cartoonish bunny and kitty engaged in the activity. Again, questions are provided to encourage readers to notice the choices made by Larry and Lola. This sequence always ends with “What did we leave behind?” and, almost as an afterthought, the question “And what is Mikey the mouse doing?” (Mikey clowns around, adding a seek-and-find element.) Although the title suggests that readers can choose, the implication is that Larry and Lola's choices are the correct answers. Although the paper is coated, the full-page gatefolds are not likely to survive much manipulation. This well-intentioned effort to help parents expand their children's vocabularies is not active enough to fully engage young children. It tries to do too much—language development, introducing everyday activities, a seek-and-find game, complicated page turns—and doesn't do any of them particularly well.

Toddlers are better served by actual conversations.