Little baby books: Everyday illustrated by Mel Four
Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408873762
(Ages 0-2) Recommended. Board picture book. Mel Four has very
cleverly and simply brought to life 5 commonplace monosyllabic
nouns: car, sock, cup, duck and bear for the youngest readers
although a child up to the age of 2 would no doubt find it of
interest.
The main object of interest is depicted on the left hand side of the
page with its word clearly shown in lower case. Very shiny luminous
coloured paper is inserted into a black board background
highlighting the important parts and giving a different texture and
look to the rest of the page. This is quite a contrast to the usual
pastel colours of baby books. The right hand side of the page simply
outlines other objects a child might associate with the noun in
question. For instance we have 'cup' shown clearly on one side of
the page with an accompanying meal on the other. 'Sock' seems to
have fallen out of its really untidy chest of drawers with other
common articles of clothing spilling out all over. I really love the
'duck' page with little gold foil ducks happily standing out against
the black as they sail along in their bathtub.
Simple, but very attractive and effective.
Elizabeth Avery