Hole Is to Dig, A

An irresistible book! I know it is irresistible because I left it on the dining room table and my roommate and her mother (a former kindergarten teacher) picked it up and read it in my absence. This "first book of first definitions" is centered around the idea of a hole, and I wouldn't be surprised

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if kids wanted to go outside and dig one after reading it. However, all the "definitions" are sweet, funny, and even profound. The illustrations by the late Maruice Sendak are amazing and each worth studying in detail. A must-read for the younger children; I would read it to kids ages 2-6.

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In my opinion, A Hole Is To Dig is a fantastic children’s book for young children who are just beginning to read. The first reason why I like this book is because each phrase or sentence that you read throughout the book teaches the reader. It defines why you have certain things and what they are

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used for. For example, “a hand is to hold up when you want your turn,” and “Toes are to dance on. Eyebrows are to go over your eyes.” These cute little phrases makes it easy for children to understand why they have such things. Second, I love that the pictures tell the exact story that the words do, and are very well drawn all across the pages. What I mean by telling the story is that if you were to not read the text on the pages you would still be able to understand what is going on. On one page it states “a whistle is to make people jump,” and in the picture shown above it, a little boy and girl are blowing their whistles as two other children are jumping in the air. There are pictures that go with everything that is defined throughout the story. Lastly, I liked this book because of the way the text is formatted throughout the pages. Rather than having the text in paragraph form on each page they are scattered all around the pages. Some are indented to the left with a photo to the right of it, while some are right in the center with the picture above it. The main idea that I got from this book was to help teach students the simplest definitions. On the cover of the book it reads “a first book of first definitions.”

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This book contains "definitions" of words based on the author's conversations with kindergartners. You can very easily see how these conversations veered into different word associations (as conversations with very young children often do). For example, "Hands are to make things. Hands are to eat

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with. A tablespoon is to eat a table with." It's a cute concept but beyond a quick 'aw, that's sweet' response from adults, I don't see a ton of value in this title. I would be hesitant to use it with young children as they might not get the conceit and would walk around with incorrect definitions in their heads. The black-and-white illustrations by Sendak are charming, which is a plus.

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