The Everything Book

by Denise Fleming

Aptly named, The Everything Book is a hodgepodge of early learner words, numbers, poems, and concepts. But, without a doubt, the gorgeous illustrations are the real star of the show, created by Denise Fleming by pouring colored cotton fiber through hand-cut stencils. Readers and art appreciators of all ages will want to surround themselves with the delicious, ripe colors. Whether she's writing about traffic lights ("We all must obey them / Even the Queen"), a robin's nest, or the colors of fruit, Fleming imbues her subjects with vivid hues and exquisite shapes. Children will pore over the loosely organized book; the sparse structure allows readers to create their own stories, lingering over Summer, for example (with "summer" as its only text), to count the flies, spy the squirrel, and admire the pair of sunflowers.

Readers can practice the alphabet, count crocodile eggs and ladybugs, make faces, learn about shapes, and play with kitchen "toys": cups, pans, spoons, bags. Towards the end of the book, the theme becomes nighttime-sleepytime, with verses about winking blinking fireflies and bunnies and chicks getting ready for bed. Children will love the big, color-drenched pictures and simple words. Grownups will want to frame the art and hang it all over their house. Fleming's In the Small, Small Pond was a Caldecott Honor Book. (Ages 3 to 6) --Emilie Coulter

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Poetry, Parenting, Animals, Education

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Denise Fleming has written and illustrated many children’s picture books, including In the Tall, Tall Grass, Shout! Shout It Out!, and Sleepy, Oh So Sleepy. She won a Caldecott Honor for In the Small, Small Pond. Denise creates her colorful illustrations by pouring colored paper pulp through hand-cut stencils. She lives in Toledo, Ohio.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/denise...
http://www.simonandschuster.com/autho...

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Truth in advertising, there is indeed a little bit of everything for children in this book: counting, shapes, alphabet, naming, seek-and-find, nursery rhymes, animals, insects, etc.

Being such a catch-all, it's not necessarily a book you'd want to read straight through at a shot and might work better in small doses for both parent and child.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colors, shapes, body parts and more. This little book has colorful illustrations to introduce your little tike to the world around them!

Ages: 0 - 3

Content Considerations: nothing to note.

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[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly I guess) a favorite of my 2 1/2 y/o. There are cute poems and rhymes on most pages, identifying objects that relate to a theme on others and counting on still others. What's not to like? The art is good (if not quite as interesting as Barnyard Banter). Not one that we'd need to own, but will get lots of reads during our 3 weeks loan from the library.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't the most thematically consistent book on the shelf, but I really like the diversity of babies, rhymes, and educational bits. There is even a find-the-ladybug challenge at the end. And surprisingly gender-free pronoun-wise.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

According to the enthusiastic Goodreads Blurber, "Aptly named, The Everything Book is a hodgepodge of early learner words, numbers, poems, and concepts."

Just to get this off my chest, a far more apt name for this title would be, "The Hodgepodge Book."

What is it with all the hype from some reviewers & publishers about their books. More than you might guess have the chutzpah to call their (mediocre) titles "an instant classic."

Here, on the book jacket, the publisher of this title tells us that "The Everything Book has something for everyone."

The same could be said for a piece of dental floss, if your standards are low enough, yes?

BACK TO THE EVERYTHING BOOK

Hey, this Goodreader found five chickens, various "kitchen toys," a Mooly Cow, and more. I'd call this entertaining content, in its way, but falling far short of my standard for "Everything."

Incidentally, what did I just read about the last book I reviewed here? That was a high concept book with the lyrics to "Feliz Navidad." Mostly readers are given a collection of pictures, yet the extremely enthusiastic Goodreads Blurber called it a unique flip book. As if you could turn the small number of pages fast enough to see something like animation. Sure didn't flip-book for me, but maybe I'm not coordinated enough. To me, that storybook had mere pages, which you could turn at will. Besides...

Much as I love books, is it really fair to call a product like "Feliz Navidad" something unique? Basically, every single blessed book is unique, even extra editions of the original book. For that reason, every single version has a unique ISBN. Geesh!

NOW, BACK TO "The Everything Book"

I'd call it a first-rate picture book for toddlers. Written for them and illustrated for them. Colorful and cute.

Sure, I'll give this FIVE STARS. Just don't expect this "Everything" book to contain much at all.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a concept book, some of which are somewhat stretched to fit the definition such as “kitchen toys”. The double page spread illustration features a bag, a pan, cans, and a spoon. All of these are great creative items. We see full page illustrations for each of the four seasons in beautiful vivid colors. Also I loved the backyard illustration as it included a moth, a butterfly, and a dragonfly. Two of these are not frequently featured in illustrations.
Plus anonymous poems are illustrated.

[Jeniece Goellner · Rating 1 out of 5]

When they say everything, they mean everything. And that is this books downfall. Pages of learning words and colors and body parts mixed with songs and rhymes. It's to much to do with a child. If it was just learning words it be great, or if it was just rhymes it would be fine (see what I did there). But having it all mixed together did not make for a good reading experience.

[Eva_Amaré · Rating 1 out of 5]

An even better title would've been The Every thing and All Over the Place Book. There's numbers, shapes, colours, body parts, foods...so.many.things. Pretty sure mama was in her element with all this stuff she's been teaching us in one book, but it was too overwhelming and confusing for us after a while.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This brightly illustrated picture book is educational in a fun way for youngsters. It begins with a poem about learning, has a contents section, and - a tip - ladybugs on many of the pages. (Note that) Rhyming poems, counting, shapes, colours, names of items - all fun-to-learn things.

[Joy Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

love the title...a lot of good rhymes

[Cara Byrne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book most appropriate for a toddler's exploration, as it does not have a narrative and instead is filled with two page spreads dedicated to teaching colors, feelings, or brief rhymes.

[Susan Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used train rhyme for Trains story time.

[Deanne Ruedemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book to interact with my grandson. Very colorful illustrations.

[Kate Nichter · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Everything Book” consists of exactly what the title says... everything. From animal noises, to meals, to seasons, to shapes.

[Celine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the variety of topics this book covered that might be interesting to babies. My 15-month-old surprisingly stayed still while looking at many of the pages.

[Melissa Swistek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does not have a consistent theme or story. More of a reference book for toddlers.

[R. L. Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little hodgepodge book of words and phrases for little kiddos, as the blurb says ;)

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Labeled pictures for reading to 2 and under. Cute pictures!

[Bronwen Merrill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh no plot

[Marisa Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is, practically, the book of everything that children experience and encounter throughout their lives.

This book is so fun and colorful, I liked the bright colors, the use of anonymous quotes and simple phrases.

This book would be great for language therapy. You could use it to increase vocabulary, target 2-3 word phrases, confrontational naming, facial expressions, and so much more!

[Amy Keltner]

1. Mother Goose
2. A terrific book to help all beginning learners how to count, rhyme, learn colors and well basically everything. With its bright vibrant colors all will be intrigued to re-read this book over and over again.
3.a: The biggest element of the book was the organization of the book.
b: It didn't overwhelm the reader with too much information or concepts at once. It provided pictures and other elements to engage in learning suitable for the child.
c: Not overwhelming the child is key to this type of book. With pictures which relate to the reader allow for easy learning. Learning that is organized in a manner that gradually gets more difficult as the reader continues to read.
4. I would use this book to introduce a new concept or even to be used as a reminder of elements learned (beginning kindergarten).

[Meagan Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book doesn’t have a specific storyline. It is a board book with different themes on each page and pictures/labels that belong under those themes. Example: There is a “mealtime” page with a picture of a baby eating different items and each item is labeled. The title and the front cover of this book is what first grabbed my attention. The colors are bright and the illustrations are wonderful! Since there is not a storyline, you could have your toddler come up with his/her own story as you read or you could just look at the pictures and have your child identify the different objects. I think this is a great book to have in your family’s library, but it shouldn’t be your main literature source.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

24 months - this is a real mish-mash of a book. Big and colorful illustrations but it's lacking a cohesive theme. Poems intermixed with labelled pictures. I actually enjoyed a few of the poems and we used the food page to talk and sign the foods in French. We mighty give it another read or two but I think we're mostly beyond this one,

[Jenny Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This exuberant, colorful board book introduces animals and plants, numbers, colors and ABCs, body parts, seasons, and days of the week to your eager youngsters.

Full review:
http://www.twentybyjenny.com/03Books/...

[Cara Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great mix of early reader with a few adult-read passages thrown in. Excellent for teaching sight words or transitioning to sight words. Colorful and detailed illustrations (cotton fiber through stencils), ladybug counting index at back.

[Daphne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book! It really does have everything - everything to keep a young child thoroughly entertained. Letters, numbers, poetry, beautiful illustrations, lots of basic information about a young child's world. Beautiful - would make a perfect gift!

[Jenn S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Drawings almost too abstract, and the stories are all over the place I lose my toddler pretty quickly.

[Anaeka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was okay at 10 months. I like the traffic poem and chicken poem.

[Audra · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's as good as they say. A wonderful vehicle for discussion with your little one.

[Savannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved that this book had a bit of everything in it.