The Everything Book

Hey!  Let's slap a bunch of crap together and sell it to kids!                     

THREE PROS

*This is the first book I have reviewed that covers letters, numbers, shapes, and colors; so, in theory, it's a value to get all of that in one place for $20 
*When authors bury a hidden game inside of their work (in this case it's finding all the ladybugs), I usually award a few positive points -- though this attempt basically nosedives due to the sheer number of items included (119!)
*Gotta give credit to Denise Fleming for creating a cityscape using only the most basic of shapes     

THREE CONS 

*I absolutely hate how the author feels the need to attribute all but one of her nursery rhymes to sources she claims are "Anonymous" just so that she can properly reference the Robin Redbreast piece from Mother Goose -- put your lame-o bibliography in the back if you are so concerned about copyrights, or better yet, don't bother with it at all  

*The page on body parts looks like a dictionary shat on and around two unfortunate little kids

*I defy you to explain the Faces page to your boy or girl without sounding like a total idiot

ONE DAD'S OPINION

To be fair, my son doesn't hate this book as much as we do...although he does look like the poster child for toddler ADD by the time we get to TEB's second half.  It's pretty easy to diagnose this variation in opinions.  After only two and a half years on this earth, his defenses aren't strong enough to withstand an all-out assault on the senses, so his only recourse is to sit there and stare.  Meanwhile, my wife and I are old enough to know that a lot of little pieces of poop still add up to one big piece of poop.  As the old saying goes, you shouldn't try to be everything to everyone.  Too bad Denise Fleming wasn't familiar with this particular anonymous quote...                    

Buy / Borrow / Donate / DESTROY