I Love Shapes

This wiro-bound board book with foam shapes is a good try. Often books about shapes for young children are very bad. This one is bright and cheerful, with the usual excellent DK photos of everyday things and adorable children. There’s a spread each on circles, squares, triangles, rectangles and ovals. Then a page of stars, hearts, and so on. And, because it’s Dr Stoppard, an open-out guide for parents, and a quick rundown on child development up to three years. I have quibbles, though. The foam shapes are each a different colour. The text says, ‘Let’s find the yellow circle’. Any toddler worth their salt will find the yellow shape, regardless of whether or not it is a circle. I don’t know why colour gets muddled up with shape. Another quibble is the emphasis on naming shapes, rather than looking at the properties of the shapes. You have to compare shapes to notice these: ‘That’s got pointy bits’, ‘That’s slopey’, ‘This is round and round’. And a cube is not a square, nor is a sphere a circle. It’s a good job children make sense of it all in their own way, regardless of the worthy hindrance that is offered!