100 FIRST WORDS

This oversized lift-the-flap word book presents 100 terms that toddlers can relate to.

Each large page is devoted to a category central to a toddler’s life: toys, party time, bed and bath, clothes, fruit and vegetables, food, at the zoo, at the beach, on the farm, pets, out and about, and things that go. The individual words presented within each category are items that youngsters will be familiar with and interested by. The toy category, for instance, features a train, a ball, a block, a robot, rings, paint and paintbrushes, and a xylophone. Every page consists of a set of square and rectangular flaps bearing images—many of which incorporate photographs of babies and toddlers, most Caucasian—on bright, bold backgrounds. When the flaps are lifted, the word is revealed, along with another picture that represents it. It’s not for babies and toddlers to explore on their own—the book is hefty, and the flaps are difficult to grasp and manipulate (they lift in different directions)—but suitable for guided exploration. A companion volume, 100 First Animals (978-1-58925-608-8), follows the same format, featuring these categories: pets, farm, safari, sea, woods, jungle, snow, rivers and lakes, bugs, desert, birds and nighttime.

The engaging images and familiar terms presented will appeal to little ones and help them to add to their quickly expanding vocabularies.