Reviewer Conny Withay:Operating her own business in office management since 1991, Conny is an avid reader and volunteers with the elderly playing her designed The Write Word Game. A cum laude graduate with a degree in art living in the Pacific Northwest, she is married with two sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren.
Follow
Here To Read Conny's Blog
Author: Terry P.
O’Grady
Illustrator: Rick Barrett
Publisher: The Kaleidoscope
Kids
ISBN: 978-0-9855-3113-3
When children start to learn to read, it should be promoted as a fun, healthy experience so they do not struggle or get frustrated. Sometimes shapes, numbers and colors can be difficult to understand and comprehend so Terry P. O’Grady has written a child’s book titled The Kaleidoscope Kids to aid in the process.
With twenty-six pages, this small, thin paperback book is geared toward one and a half to five year old children who are starting to learn shapes, numbers and colors along with some words. Using a complex and somewhat hard to read font, it might be recommended for an adult to initially read the book aloud while the child looks at the pages. Illustrator Rick Barrett has simple to sometimes complicated, colorful drawings on almost every page that match the rhyming story. There is no profanity or questionable scenes to scare or harm a young reader.
This tome is about ten whimsical fairies that are born faraway and tumble to earth, where they find sad children who cry because they cannot learn lessons at school. Cheering them on, the fairies explain that each one of them is a different color, shape and number as they are introduced in the following manner:
Number One is a Black Straight Line named
Midnight.
Number Two is a Blue Square named Bluebell.
Number
Three is a Yellow Triangle named Sunlight.
Number Four is a Purple
Oval named Violet.
Number Five is a Brown Rectangle named
Brownie.
Number Six is a Green Crescent named Jade.
Number
Seven is an Orange Circle named Tangerine.
Number Eight is a Red
Heart named Rose.
Number Nine is a Gold Star named Goldie.
Number
Ten is a White Diamond named Sparkle.
In the end, the children are happy they have learned their lessons and their teacher tells them to eat an apple a day to grow healthy, wealthy and wise. The ten fairies fly away, saying they will come back again if the children ever need their help or friendship.
With the busy artwork and the rhyming, a young child will have plenty to look at and hear about in regard to the three important concepts of numbers, colors and shapes. Since most of the numbered pictures have multiple examples of the colors and shapes on the page, it can be a fun challenge to the child to find the similarities. This book can be repeatedly read and then the child can reference the concepts to other items used in daily living.