PAIRS!

In rhyming verse and colorful spreads, preschoolers are invited to find all sorts of creatures that live in the sea.

Each two-page spread filled with playful illustrations of marine life offers seven flaps. Children are invited to look under the flaps and find both the matching pairs and the odd one out. Lift the shells, Concentration-style, to find the matching crabs or the coral branches to find the matching sea horses. The rhyming text accompanying each spread adds some information on the animals hiding under the flaps. To further exercise budding observational skills, each spread asks young children to find other creatures scattered throughout the page—five starfish, three pufferfish, six eels. The companion volume, Pairs! In the Garden, follows the same format with rhyming text and colorful, mixed-media pages teaming with garden life. Lift the lettuce to find the matching caterpillars or the stones to find the matching snails. Here too, children are encouraged to spot other creatures scattered throughout the pages. Astute adults could use the game element to encourage verbal expressions related to color, size, direction—left or right—and shape.

A book disguised as a game—or perhaps a game disguised as a book—that will keep older toddlers and younger preschoolers thoroughly engaged.