How Much Do You Have To Learn, and how do we learn?

Imagine a world full of colors and things and words and the strangeness of how it fits together. Imagine the page with its two-dimensional picture pulling you in. Imagine shapes on the page. They're called words. They have sounds attached, just like the shapes in the pictures... the shapes in the world. And slowly it all comes together.

Author Efrat Shoham imagines that world of the 0-3 year old perfectly, and offers those simple sets of words that inspire imagination and learning in the My First ... books. My First Blue Book is drawn around a very cool cat--a soothing blueness offering the perfect bed-time read. 15 printed words are presented with illustrations designed to invite story-building and fun. Then there's My First Yellow Book, bright as the morning sun and drawn around sunshine and rain. Again, just 15 words. My First Red book presents the curious adventures of the color red as a family enjoy a day at the beach. All three are delightfully illustrated by different artists. All three have the attraction of simple printed words and inspiration. They're highly recommended, as is the light crisp one-star coffee to drink as you read.

Piaras O Cionnaoith offers another series of cool picture books for beginning readers. Learning My Letters shows how to construct and draw each shape, inviting manual dexterity and mental imagination through fun combinations of letter-themed illustrations. Learning My Drawing builds simple shapes into images as complex and delightful as puppies, turtles, frogs and pterodactyls. Then Learning My ABCs offers a cool and different animal alphabet. And Learning My Words offers great images to go with each letter. Sometimes I wish the fonts had been more consistently chosen in these books, but the ideas are truly fun and inviting. A cool collection to enjoy with another light crisp one-star coffee.

And so they learn, through solid objects, then pictures, then symbols, words, sounds, lists of facts... But do we ever stop learning? How much do you still have to learn? And how will you learn?







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