Book Review: "Big and Little", by Samantha Berger & Pamela Chanko

   "Big and Little" is a Scholastic book, a collaboration between Samantha Berger and Pamela Chanko.  I dug up this little board book in a local thrift shop for my daughter.  At 6 months old, she just loves to look at board books, turning the pages herself sometimes and pointing and babbling at the pictures.  This particular book was very engaging for her!

   The front cover features a photograph of a pair of dogs, of course one big and one little!  The first photo inside the book is the same picture.  Bordering each illustration in the brief story is a measuring tape, under which is simple text, i.e., "Big dog and little dog."

   Other pages feature elephants, polar bears, and such.  One of my favorite sets of images was a pair of hands, a grown up and a child holding hands.  These sorts of things offer a chance for bonding with your little one as you read, because you can give her a concrete example of what's on the page right then and there.  I held her hand and repeated from the story, pointing out my big hand next to her little hand.

   One page featured a large green leaf, upon which rested a smaller pink leaf.  I like it when book creators step out of the box, encouraging children to think a little differently.  While the book definitely follows a pretty set format, this is a little different because instead of two similar images next to each other, the smaller leaf is inset on top of the larger one.  While a bit much for a baby to understand, a toddler would definitely get the concept that something is not the same about this set of images and will get to thinking about this.

   My baby's favorite page was the one featuring two different trees.  She spent the most time on that part of the book, and it took over a minute for her to look over at the following page.  For such a young child, that is a long time to stay interested in something!  The final page features a set of twin boys, showing the reader that they are the same size.

   This book, published in 1999, features photography credits on the inside front cover, along with acknowledgements including a literary specialist and an early childhood consultant.  It was part of Scholastic's "My First Library" series.