SPARKLING PRINCESS OPPOSITES

A shiny, fairy-tale–themed concept book for toddlers.

Each page presents a pair of opposite concepts, including fast and slow, far and near, small and big, etc. A word for each concept is the only text. While princesses abound, they don’t appear on every spread, though the illustrations do make ample use of royal and fairy-tale motifs and boast, true to the series title, a lot of sparkle. Companion book Colors is done in the same style, devoting a page to each color. The concepts and colors in both titles are clearly depicted, aside from “white”—its page is, confusingly, predominantly silver and blue. While both titles feature primarily Caucasian characters, with the exception of a darker-hued princess illustrating “brown,” they do a bit better in terms of gender, displaying some active female characters, including one princess racing ahead of a prince on horseback (to illustrate fast/slow) and another who has just bested her male opponent on the tennis court (happy/sad).

While not groundbreaking in style or substance, these simple titles will nonetheless appeal to those toddlers (or parents) already besotted with all things stately and sparkly.