SETS AND NUMBERS FOR THE VERY YOUNG

A workbook of arithmetical fundamentals for the very, very young, conceptually sound but dismayingly reminiscent of Dick, Jane and Sally: ""There isa mouse for each cat. There is a cat for each mouse. There are as many mice as there are cats. There are three cats. There are three mice."" But look, look, look, it's not all bad because the basic constructs are good: cardinal and ordinal number meanings communicated through concrete representations--""the meaning of one"" to ten, first/second, left/right, more/fewer, as many, one less than, triangle, circle, and square. Each construct is expressed and 'experienced' in variously imaginative participations from tracing the number's outline on a path of arrows to question and answer games, but then illustrated (per Joan Walsh Anglund) in an abysmal black-and-white way that invites the bored or insulted child to color in all the pictures. The look of the page is so discouragingly crowded that nothing sets up very well; yet it really could be useful as a jumping-off point for parent-teachers' lesson plans.