Book 344: My Little 1 2 3 Book

My Little 1 2 3 Book, by Bob Staake, Little Simon (Simon & Schuster), 1998.

My son is five; I gave away most of his board books a year or two ago.  Yet, this year, I bought him this one.  He keeps it in a small, portable, bookseller's shelf on top of his "art" desk (or under the pillow of his bed).

I bought my son this book for two reasons:

1.  My son LOVES Bob Staake's work.  Not just the illustrative work in children's books.  He can see a Washington Post illustration or a New Yorker illustration and know it is Bob Staake's work.

2.  I've told my son that he can draw pretty much anything he wants by using the basic shapes that he knows.  I've shown him by drawing shapes and turning them into a cat or a dog or a cow jumping over the moon, but it wasn't until he saw the shapes used for the illustrations in this series of "Little" books that he really caught on.

These books are great for the purpose they were intended, i.e, teaching numbers to very young children.  They can also be used to teach colors and shapes.  And, while the illustrations may some lack the sophistication and finesse of Staake's later computer work, they are absolutely perfect for teaching a child to draw.