cover image NO & YES: An Active Toddler's Guide on How to Behave!

NO & YES: An Active Toddler's Guide on How to Behave!

Ivana Svabic, , illus. by Ivana Svabic. . Scholastic/Chicken House, $16.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-439-33866-0

Martin and Svabic, a husband-and-wife team collaborating on their first book, employ a rambunctious preschooler to illustrate the dos and don'ts of behavior. On one side of each spread, a vignette captioned "NO" shows Marco reveling in naughtiness; this is rendered in tones of brown and gray with splashes of color to emphasize the specific transgression. One such picture, for example, finds Marco in his high chair, a bowl of cereal on his head, while his mother uses a plate to shield herself against a flurry of pink splatters. On the facing page, the picture's "YES" partner is in color; in this example, Marco cheerily chows down with more aplomb ("Now, this is how a boy should eat,/ And afterwards, A SPECIAL TREAT!"). Unfortunately, the "no" scenarios are inevitably more interesting than the "yes" lessons readers are meant to emulate, and the visuals are something of a turn-off. The colors, harsh to begin with, seem gaudy by contrast to the monochromatic works, while the foreshortened compositions look cramped and overly patterned. Ages 2-up.(Apr.)