PEPPA'S FIRST 100 WORDS

With over 250 television episodes featuring Peppa Pig airing on Nick Jr television stations, this vocabulary board book will find an audience.

The large trim size (nearly 10 inches square) allows for plenty of space for seven categories, each with 17 to 23 words. Many are compound words or phrases (“sand castle”; “party hat”) and/or words not found on standard beginning reader word lists (“scooter”; “cash register”). Most of the groupings are logical (Daddy and Mummy Pig are “In my house,” for instance), but placing “Granny Pig” and “Grandpa Pig” “In the garden” feels arbitrary. Presumably, they could just as easily be found “At the park” or “At the supermarket.” Each spread includes two to four sturdy flaps that hide pictures and more vocabulary. Occasionally, what is hidden defies logic. For example, moving the unlabeled drawbridge on a “castle” on the “Playtime” pages reveals a “dinosaur,” but the label is outside the castle. Why is there a single “banana” behind a full “basket”? Librarians will suck their teeth when they see that the “book” flap lifts to reveal a green “marker.” Still, the “spider” behind the “picture” hung on the wall is a mordant touch. Since the popular pig is featured multiple times on every spread, these details won’t matter to Peppa’s fans.

Fine for Peppa’s partisans, but similar and better-designed vocabulary books abound.