Opposites

by Sandra Boynton

Serious silliness for all ages. Artist Sandra Boynton is back and better than ever with completely redrawn versions of her multi-million selling board books. These whimsical and hilarious books, featuring nontraditional texts and her famous animal characters, have been printed on thick board pages, and are sure to educate and entertain children of all ages.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Humor, Kids, Juvenile

16 pages, Board Book

First published July 8, 1982

About the author

Sandra Keith Boynton is an American humorist, songwriter, director, music producer, children's author, and illustrator. Boynton has written and illustrated over eighty-five books for children and seven general audience books, as well as over four thousand greeting cards, and seven music albums. She has also designed calendars, wallpaper, bedding, stationery, paper goods, clothing, jewelry, and plush toys for various companies.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bare bones book of opposites by Boynton is still better than most anyone else's because of the cute pictures.

[Hendrix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learning my opposites! Read to me by daddy after my bath tonight 📖

[Ronan Crutchfield]

This book was very surprising to me! I loved the exaggerated voices my mom used and my eyebrows would shoot up when she flipped the pages

[Lorellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. A little vaguely worded, but nothing I can't elaborate on for Tot.

[Ashlee Thomas Watt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super fun read! Love creating new voices each time I read aloud to my son.

[Stella Pruitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sandra has established herself as the definitive authority on juxtaposition. A must-read for anyone wondering what’s the opposite of that

[Lillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful pictures and text. Sandra Boynton is one of my favorites.

[Breanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable!

Read in 2021

[Bailey Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute story that shows small children opposites.

[Sara Stelmach · Rating 4 out of 5]

The picture book “Opposites” by Sandra Boynton is a humorous and light hearted picture book that compares basic opposites. The story rhymes throughout but there is no story line. The opposites are shown through animals. For example there is an elephant and a rabbit on a see saw on the cover. This cover represents heavy and light. My favorite page was the heavy and light opposite page. This page had a moose lifting a heavy weight with a mouse on top of him with a light weight. This would be a great read aloud because the students would love the comical pictures. Boynton does a great job depicting even difficult opposites. For example the right and wrong opposite was done with pigs and a telephone. The right and wrong aspect is done by whether they are holding the telephone correctly. The color palette used is mainly primary colors and each page is different. I would recommend this book for preschoolers and kindergartners.

[Hayden Delgado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opposites by Sandra Boynton is a great concept book in telling the opposites of things. For example, this hits on important opposites we see every day that children need to get familiar with. It touched on short and tall, high and low, in and out, day and night, fast and slow, big and small, and many more. The interesting part of this concept book is that it told the story through pictures, and very little amount of words. Each page had about two words, but because the pictures were so well illustrated, it was easy to understand what the opposite was before having to read the words. This is perfect for preschoolers and kindergarteners so that they can get more familiar with these things than they already are. A teacher can make an activity out of this since it is such a fast and easy read, but I recommend putting this in your classroom as a tool students can use when they are thinking of opposites in their daily lives or even in their writing.

[Madeline Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concept Book
I found this book at Barnes and Nobles bookstore. This book gives the readers amazing examples of thing that are opposites. This is a book I can remember having as a child and always enjoying it. Opposites are a great concept for children to begin learning from a young age and this gives amazing and easy examples. From heavy to light and wet to dry these opposite pairs are full of fun for children to discover! This book could be used for children from newborn to even kindergarten. The illustrations use a wide variety of animals and bright and fun colors that will attract even the youngest of readers. This book was also a board book which makes it even easier for children of all ages. Even though, this book is short it can be a great book to read out loud to a classroom full of children of the right age!

[Blaire Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opposites was such a fun-filled, silly book full of wonderful illustrations. The book is centered around many opposites that a child might see in the world and it gives a great representation of each opposite. Text in this book is very limited so the pictures must show the meaning of the opposites in which it does. On one page Sandra represents the opposite Heavy and light with a rabbit and an elephant. The difference between the two animals sizes is well shown through the illustration. It rhymed, it was colorful, and fun to read. A teacher could do so much with this book and a lesson on opposites. I really enjoyed this one, especially for my young readers. Those that are just starting to read and learning concepts like opposites. This book is a great addition to a kindergarten or preschool classroom.

[Samantha Jenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking for a book that tells the story through illustrations as well as words? This book does wonders! While the book informs the reader that the words on each page are opposites with the words, the illustrations do an amazing job of comparing the words and showing how they are not the same. The book goes through many opposite words and with the illustrations, shows exactly how they are opposite of one another. I would recommend this book to children in first grade, as they would be able to read it themselves maybe with little assistance. This would teach them what opposite means, as well as show many fun examples!

[Sophie Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

CONCEPTS:
Opposites by Sandra Boynton is a super cute book for younger children in kindergarten and first grade. It is a very simple book and help you learn about opposites. This book is also good when learning to rhyme. For example, in the first couple of pages it reads: "Big and small. Short and tall. High and low. Fast and slow." The illustrations also go along with the words on the pages. For FAST there is an animal running and for SLOW there is a snail. The illustrations are simple yet colorful and very pleasing to the eye. I would definitely recommend this book for younger children and especially children learning to read because it is full of easy and simple words.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great for engaging the youngest of learners in the basic concept of opposites. The characters are very friendly and happy to watch. Each page is super simple in both the pictures and the concept of opposites. This is very helpful for a young child to process what the text is trying to convey. Opposites is engaging for children to pick up and read independently as well. It encourages read to self skills by keeping the pictures and text direct and explicit.

[Lexi Radlove · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was comparing opposites and used animals to represent each given pair. I loved how the words went in different directions across the page and ranged in sizes. My favorite pair was "inside or outside" because I thought the turtle out of his shell was a good representation of the definition. These visuals can help students relate the words to their meanings. The colors were very bright and also appealing. Each page had a different background color which kept you following along. This book was a very easy read and I hope to use it in a future classroom.

[Kendall Lockwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Nonfiction- Concept Book
Awards: None
Audience: Birth- PreK
A. The topic of the book is the concept of opposites.
B. The topic is presented in a child-friendly way, because each page has two opposites with each opposite represented by a picture. The pictures are clearly labeled by the term for the opposite.
C. The text features used are labeled pictures throughout the entire book.
D. I would use this book with a child prior their school years or just beginning preK by reading the book together with the individual student and pointing out the correlation between the opposites.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun collection of rhyming holiday-themed tales, with DELIGHTFUL illustrations by the author.



"Christmas Lullaby" is by far the sweetest. If I had it all to do over again, I'd sing this to my kids every Christmas eve.

Good night, my little present,
And always peace to you.
I've nothing more to ask for ---
You are my wish come true,
Oh, you are my wish come true.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

From a pack of Boynton board books that I picked up at Costco the other day.

Has some cute rhymes, but nothing stands out to me about this one. Also, the phone thing is dated--ended up explaining to my toddler why one way of holding the receiver was "right" and the other was "wrong."

Nothing "wrong" with that, since it was probably still current when the book was drawn, but because of that it wasn't the best illustration of the concept anymore.

[Kate M. Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack borrowed this book from the Oxford Public Library. I picked it because he loves Sandra Boynton, and we're trying to read all her books over time.

Once again, I grabbed a book from today's library haul since Jack was so interested in reading new books today. He sat next to me on the couch and listened to the whole thing. He made the elephant noise, of course, but also repeated a lot of the words back to me. He is getting so good at mimicking.

[MacKenzie Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very cute and humorous book about opposites. The illustrations were great as well. This would be a great read aloud that I believe students would really enjoy. It has a great message about just because things are opposites and different doesn't mean they aren't both beautiful in their own way.

[Madeline Masluk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great and fun way for children to learn about what opposites are and how they work. Opposites is fun book for young children to learn why objects and things are opposite. I would recommend this book to children who are learning about opposites and why somethings in our world are opposite.

[Maria Hatzialexiou · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! I think this is a very important book for young readers. I love the illustrations for this book because children adore animals so I think it was smart to use them to get children to learn their opposites. Not only did Sandra Boynton use animals to get the children’s attention to learn about opposites but she is rhyming as well.

[Alysa EvansSaintClaire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read for character description for students! I would love to discuss opposites with my class before and after reading this book to them! I'd like to see how many opposite things they could come up with. I enjoyed the heavy and light illustration where the elephant and rabbit were on the see-saw. It really gave a good depiction of the definition of heavy and light!

[Therese Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can never go wrong with a Boynton book. Opposites did not disappoint Parker or I with its humor, silly illustrations, or fun text. Of course, I had to do a bit (bunch!) of explaining. But I know that one day Parker will be leading the discussion.

I’m so glad he listens now. Still working on his Mom😂

[Annie Smallwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opposites is a really cute book to teach the meaning of opposites. It lists some good examples with simple, clear illustrations to go along with them. This would be good for a younger child and especially as a read aloud.

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Spanish-as-a-first-language or made to be bilingual book would be a better choice in my opinion. No flow or rhymes because it's just a straight translation into Spanish. Es Hora de Dormir or Mama's Milk are poetic in both languages.

[Kaitlyn Kluesner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a really great picture book that explains what opposites. This book gives lots of examples with great illustrations. Even though this book is simple, I think it is great for all readers. I would use this in my classroom to teach students what opposites are.

[Alyssa Finuoli]

Opposities by Sandra Boynton can be used to target rhyming which is an early phonological awareness skill. Additionally, it can be used to target a variety of language concepts which are opposites such as big vs. tall, fast vs. slow, high vs. low.