cover image Outside/Inside

Outside/Inside

Sesame Street, Lea Hayden. Random House Books for Young Readers, $4.95 (9pp) ISBN 978-0-679-80069-9

These inaugural 2-in-1 Turnaround Books introduce yet another innovative format for books for very young children. Printed on heavy stock, the pages of the books fold out, accordion-style. Each side tells a different story, neatly introduced by its own cover, and closed by a fold-over flap fastened with Velcro. In the first title, various generic animal characters are seen waking up in one story and preparing for bed in the next. Richard Scarry's well-known Pig Will and Pig Won't demonstrate cooperative and disobedient behavior in the second volume. The final two titles feature the lovable Sesame Street gang, shown having fun on sunny and on rainy days, and then keeping themselves busy indoors and outdoors. This clever presentation of the concept of opposites is well suited to preschoolers, who will especially enjoy fiddling with the Velcro snaps. Ages 3-up. (Oct.)