cover image My Camera

My Camera

Harriet Ziefert. HarperCollins Publishers, $4.5 (1pp) ISBN 978-0-694-00417-1

You might expect these diecut board books to closely represent the objects they describe, but you'd be wrong. For starters, the shape of each book only crudely approximates that of camera, cassette player, etc. Open them up, and the pages present stolidly drawn pictures of toddlers and their families--for example, taking pictures at the zoo or making a call. (A typical episode: ``Hi, Grandma, I'm baking cookies,'' reads a dialogue balloon over the image of a boy stirring dough in a mixing bowl while talking on the horn. ``What kind of cookies are you baking?'' replies the apron-clad grandparent.) The biggest disappointment is My Cassette Player , which prints up only lyrics to nursery rhymes and songs, plastering an ungainly amount of type onto most spreads. A missed opportunity. Ages 9 mos.-3 yrs. (Mar.)