My First Canadian Bodies

Britta Santowski is a freelance writer in Victoria.

These two board books are race and gender inclusive, and use photographs
with corresponding labels, presented on brightly colourful backgrounds,
to depict various concepts.

The first few pages of My First Canadian Bodies names and describes the
various body parts of a boy and a girl. The images are of a boy naked
from the waist up, and a fully dressed girl from the front and then from
the back. Some of the body parts are explicitly labelled (e.g., hands
and feet); others are not mentioned (e.g., waist, knuckle). Some are
recaptured in inset windows and labelled in greater detail, making the
pages very busy. The body parts generally first discovered and last
discussed (genitals, nipples) are not presented. The rest of the book
deals with the things the body can do, such as smell, feel, express
emotions, and make noise.

My First Canadian Opposites explores concepts such as open and close,
rough and smooth, in front and behind, old and new, and straight and
curly. Some, such as a long and short pencil, are visually obvious;
others, such as a soft cloth book and a hard board book, depend more on
the child having been exposed to such an object. The book includes both
concrete examples (e.g., big and small) as well as more abstract notions
(e.g., few and many).

Both books are visually attractive and their contents are clearly
presented, and both will be of value to parents in the development of
their preschooler’s vocabulary. Recommended.