MY FIRST SHAPES

A photo-illustrated primer of shapes.

The first double-page spread introduces the forms and invites little fingers to trace around the dotted lines outlining everyday objects illustrating the shapes. In addition to a rectangular door, a square slice of toast (with what appears to be cream cheese and jelly), and a triangular button, there are a heart-shaped candy, a star-shaped cookie, and two notably 3-D objects standing in as two-dimensional shapes: a circular ball and an oval egg. Next up, bright photos of tortilla chips, a “cheese slice,” a (triangular) kite, and more illustrate a spread about triangles. The following page shows a picture of an A-frame house and asks “What shapes can you see?” This pattern repeats until the book cycles through all the shapes. The project ends with a review of the shapes, smaller than ever, as they crowd the page. Most of the illustrations are crisp and bold against the white backgrounds and employ DK’s seemingly infinite photo library. Some of the objects may be a bit of a stretch and may prove confusing or unfamiliar to toddlers (a heart-shaped pizza? Triangular bunting?), but little ones with be pleased to see some favorites in the mix, particularly two pages of colorful doughnuts (circle) and a wonderfully bright blue clutch of robins’ eggs (oval).

Useful if uninspired.