LEARN COLORS

There’s plenty to do in this vocabulary-building, question-and-answer, lift-the-flap guide to color.

This well-conceived primer is not a great choice for the youngest toddlers, whose undeveloped fine-motor skills would doubtless lead to torn and missing flaps in no time. But precocious young readers with some dexterity will enjoy solving the riddles and revealing the answers in this colorful effort. The verso of each double-page spread features a patterned field of saturated color. Four flaps on the page pose questions, with answers beneath, about items of that color. The recto names the featured color above a picture rendered primarily in that color. Embedded in that picture is one more flap concealing an item of a different color—“Oops! These flowers are not red! They’re blue!”—setting up the color scheme for the next spread. Each flap features a thoughtful notch to help little fingers gain purchase. This format—four questions and answers, plus one surprise that doesn’t match, every two pages—means the book is a longer read than comparably sized board books, which may well challenge a toddler’s attention span. As there’s no storyline, however, there’s no harm done if a child doesn’t make it all the way through on every reading. The colors pop, as they should; the artwork is pleasant and mostly representational (e.g., foods and flowers) with the exception of animals, who are cartoony, cute, and full of personality.

Fun and enriching.