“Spotty, Stripy, Swirly: What Are Patterns?” is a book in the Clever Concept series by Jane Brocket. The book uses vivid photographs to teach what a pattern is, how to recognize specific patterns, and where some patterns can be found. Stacking and sorting objects to create patterns is illustrated and encouraged. The images used to demonstrate patterns include flowers and leaves in nature, food displays in stores, cake decorations, quilts, afghans, and gardens. Some of the patterns used include stripes, zig zags, circles, and polka dots. The book encourages looking for patterns in the world around you, and creating your own patterns while at play. Patterns found in sidewalks, buildings, floors, ceilings, stairs, and everyday life are used to further illustrate the concept.
“Spotty, Stripy, Swirly: What Are Patterns?” encourages and nurtures the idea of creating and enjoying patterns along with the understanding about what makes a pattern and recognizing them in the world around us. The pictures are bright and pop out at the readers. The text is fun, while getting the point across. The pack cover leaves children with the challenge of counting and identifying the different patterns found through out the book. My five-year-old is a big fan of sorting and patterns, and he fell in love with this book. We read it as a digital galley, but I will definitely be buying the paper copy and adding it to our home library.
I recommend “Spotty, Stripy, Swirly: What Are Patterns?,” and actually all of Brocket’s Clever Concept books, to everyone age three and up. The images are beautiful, so bright and vivid that they will catch even the non-readers eye and hold their attention. The other books in the series so far are; “Ruby, Violet, Lime: Looking for Color” and “Spiky, Slimy, Smooth: What Is Texture?” I have been recommending these books to every teacher and librarian that deals with preschool and elementary school aged children as useful tools in teaching concepts that can be tough for some to fully comprehend.