Learning About Sizes
Tina Thoburn ~ Joe Kaufman
Golden Press, 1963
This is one in a series called Britannica's Pre-School Library - First Adventures in Learning Program. I have a couple of these (Nature/ Everyday Things/ Thinking/ Time & Measuring/ Numbers/ Color/ Signs) and can attest to the fact that they are totally rad.
The nature version has awesome brain-games like a page full of all kinds of fish with one jelly fish in the middle and it asks the reader to point to the creature that is NOT a fish. Another illustration pictures a submarine and a whale and asks "Which of these is alive?" And again on a page full of birds and one bat... "Which animal has fur?" Such really great questions for kids that really make them use their minds.
This particular book (as indicated by the title) is all about how big and how small things are."Here is something for you to do.
Put an ice cube in a saucer.
Put the saucer in a warm place.
What happens to the ice cube?"
Of all the children's books we have, educational and otherwise, I have the most fun with my son reading these over and over again, getting him to figure out the brain teasers on his own. Not to mention, each book in the series is illustrated by someone awesome: J.P. Miller, June Goldsborough, Dagnar Wilson, Harry McNaught, etc.
Also by:What Makes It Go? What Makes It Work? What Makes It Fly? What Makes It Float?
Joe Kaufman's Book About Busy People
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Hi! I started reading your blog/lurking this past summer, and it's been busy, so I haven't really explored the archives - but I wasn't surprised to see your blog pop up when I Googled, looking for some information about one of my latest estate sale finds - 13 of these books. They are stunning, and my four and a half year old daughter loves them, and I'm so happy and excited to see all my favourite little golden book artists represented. Imagining opening "All Kinds of Signs" and seeing the work of Trina Schart, who illustrated Josie's first favourite Little Golden Book of sounds! Thanks, and I'm off to try to learn more about them - I want them ALL! mwahhahahahaha!
ReplyDeleteoh my goodness i am so jealous, i think I only have four... gimme gimme!
ReplyDeleteHi! I collect vintage children's books, and I recently found 8 books in this series! I am wondering if you know how many were made, and if you have a resource for the complete list?
ReplyDeletegoodness, i don't know. I have about eight of them now... here's a link that shows 13 with a little more information
ReplyDeletehttp://www.etsy.com/listing/40322117/vintage-encyclopedia-britannica-kids
I grew up in Portugal and remember these books fondly. Now, as an adult with a particular interest in illustration from the late 50's and 60's I was especially excited to find that the volumes I owned had made their way half-way across the world with my parents. I have been cherishing them and using them for artistic inspiration. A couple of weeks ago I was on your site and read this post, and that there were potentially more books. Imagine my astonishment when that night I found the whole set on e-bay in VG condition for a price that would be like rubbing salt on the wound if I were to share. Anyway, long way to get to my point: I got them and have been comparing them my old Portuguese editions , and found that they are different. The Portuguese editions often combine two volumes in one -- probably as a response to the lower buying power of the Portuguese market. But, not only are some of the illustrations different, the Portuguese editions also include pages that are not found in any of the American books -- which I found to be very interesting. In any case, thank you for your post. I very much wanted to get a set of these books in English. I have a 5 yr old and I am hoping that they will open up in him the love of illustration that they did for me. For example, one of the volumes has a version of the Provensen's the Color Kittens, which I have loved since I was kid due to these books. I am also a huge fan of H. McNaught's illustrations in the Time and Measuring book. Thanks again, and apologies for the long winded comment.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to keep my eyes open for these books, nice images!
ReplyDeleteOh..I love these books! I actually remember having the Learning about Sizes as a kid. The illustrations are awesome. I wish educational books of today were of this quality!! Thanks so much for sharing these! :)
ReplyDeleteI was very lucky to find a few of these at the local thrift store. I keep going back to see if the rest had accidentally gotten separated and also made their way to the shelves. No luck but I'm still on the hunt to complete the set. The illustrations are eye candy!
ReplyDeleteHi, I am trying to track down a story that I think was in one of these books. I am looking for the book "Stories and Poems" in this series. I wonder if you have this?
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