MY FIRST OUT AND ABOUT

Familiar sights of several common childhood excursions.

What this sturdy board book lacks in narrative it makes up in vocabulary. Sixteen double-page set pieces depict early childhood forays out of the home and a sampling of what might be found at each destination. Featured hotspots include preschool, the doctor’s office, the library, the train station, the farm, the beach, the museum, and more. Photographs of everyday objects make this book ideal for “point-and-say” interplay. Featured objects mostly hit the mark: puppet, crayons, and modeling clay at preschool, for example, and piglets, pony, and rabbit at the farm. The doctor’s office presents a few conceptual challenges, though. It features both “adhesive bandages” and, well, “bandages” (i.e., gauze bandages), a distinction that may be lost on some children. While kids will readily identify stethoscopes, “otoscope” seems a bit more obscure despite the frequency of ear exams by the doctor. The spreads on the library, train station, aquarium, and playground don’t feature highlighted vocabulary; perhaps “book,” “train,” “fish,” and “slide” seemed too obvious. Animal rights advocates may disapprove of the zoo and aquarium scenes, but the animal photographs should delight young readers. The toy-store scene, replete with trains, dinosaurs, dolls, and blocks, will build young vocabularies and, perhaps, pint-sized consumers, as well.

Quibbles aside, this volume should broaden children’s verbal skills while providing opportunities for conversation and instruction.