I SEE, YOU SEE: DAY

In this wordless board book, babies can explore everyday objects and scenes rendered in high-contrast black-and-white art.

On the left-hand page, three simple images, made from black hand-cut paper and set against white backgrounds, run down the middle of the page. Across the spread on the right-hand page, these objects are found in context. For example, in one double-page spread, a cat, a dog, and a turtle sit on verso; on recto, readers see the dog in a doghouse, the cat on a mat, and the turtle roving across the floor. While many of the images look simple and pitch-perfect for newborn eyesight, they are actually too small for little ones learning to focus. Some of the objects are very difficult to identify out of context, even for grown-ups, such as a ball, a baby swing, and a crib. The recto scenes are oddly cropped, poorly composed, and add little to the effort.

For a baby’s first foray into books, there are far better high-contrast titles than this offering, such as Phyllis Limbacher Tildes’ Baby Animals Spots & Stripes (2015) and Baby Animals Day & Night (2016).