Reviews

PreS-K-- These books attempt to introduce young children to mathematical concepts. What they do best is to provide caregivers and teachers ideas to be used in exploring the concept, using actual items rather than the books themselves. Each page is a vibrant, full-color photograph with a short caption or simple text, illustrating an example of the topic. Of the three books, Length is the most useful, comparing shoelaces and various other objects of different sizes. But other comparisons are appropriate only for use at the top of the age level, requiring children to visualize the length of a swimming pool or the distance of a running race. Comparison of different sized paces or handspans are presented to demonstrate why standard measurements are necessary, a good way to introduce the idea if actually carried out. The concepts in Capacity are too advanced for average preschoolers even using tangible objects, but to present a picture of a variety of containers and expect an accurate response to the question of which holds more is simply inviting frustration for all involved. Patterns suffers from a similar problem; children are introduced to the concept using a simple checkerboard layout, but then are expected to see pattern in an aerial view of irregular rooftops, the border of a carpet, plaid, a wallpaper repeat, and the petals of a flower (which is more an example of symmetry than pattern). In all, it's a lovely package of questionable content; better to use the money on rulers, measuring cups, and colored blocks. --Denise L. Moll, Lone Pine Elementary School, West Bloomfield, Mich.