I Can Do It Myself

In a natural follow-on from Everything I Need to Know Before I’m Five, Fisher champions preschool self-actualization in this upbeat how-to, illustrated with close-up photographs of children and tiny plastic toys. Along the pages’ vertical edges, statements like “I know my left” and “I know my right” refer to larger-than-life photos of a child’s left and right hands and feet. A spread titled “I hold my pencil” demonstrates left-handed and right-handed techniques. (An all-inclusive spirit is implicit in the activities and the various skin tones of the children and dolls.) To illustrate the heading “I brush my teeth,” she pictures inch-tall dolls maneuvering an actual-size toothbrush around a stylized set of dentist-office-demonstration teeth. For “I make lemonade,” a tall doll saws a lemon in half and a much smaller doll sweeps up grains of spilled sugar. Throughout, Fisher favors eye-popping colors and buoyant patterns, and she also combines photos and diagrams: crawling plastic bugs and multidirectional arrows help readers trace letters and numbers. From dressing oneself to mastering colors, patterns, and even making the bed, Fisher’s encouraging book balances the known and the new. Ages 3–7. (July)■