Dorling Kindersley is a publisher that specializes in non-fiction book and their specialization leads to special books. It's difficult to say what's most pleasing, the vivid photographs, intriguing subjects, their understanding of the stages of children's development, their innovative concepts, or the way their books and CD Roms invite parent-child interaction.
All these qualities come together in four new series for very young children. All will be most successful with lots of parent involvement. For the youngest babies there are Block Books with titles like Rise and Shine and Sleepy Head. The block-like design makes for thick pages that open easily, stability when perched near babies, and durability for babies who like to gnaw on books. They work for toddlers, too, who can learn sequential order from the way the book are organized and small motor skills as they take the books in and out of boxes they come packaged in.
A second series, for children three and up, is the Jigsaw Puzzles with book tiles like Color Puzzles, Word Puzzles. Each page has large colorful puzzle parts that relate to the concepts being taught. One of the best things about these first puzzles is that they're hard to lose or dump because they're sandwiched between the pages of the book.
Treasure Hunt is perfect for toddlers who are learning to name. These books are based on themes like: Things to eat and At Home. The pages are filled with colorful photographs that can lead to lots of seek, find, and name games. The parent can either ask for a child to point to an object, or for children with more language acquisition, the parent can point and the child can name.
My favorite series is the one I most fear recommending, the DK Flash Cards. There are four packs of thirty colorful flash cards organized according to themes like Things that Go or On the Farm. Objects are clear and inviting; they're great for traveling and they're a perfect support for language learning. My concern is that each has the name of the object on the back and I fear that eager parents will push their children to read at an early age. I remember one parent I knew who pasted an alphabet frieze around her kitchen, labeled everything in her house with words, and by three her child could read! Yes, her child knew lots of parlor tricks, adults were impressed, but I believe children should be pleasured by learning, not force fed.