Nonreaders will be able to associate symbols with words while beginning readers hopefully can start to read many of the words on their own. Parents can point to an object and ask, "What's that?" or they can go one step beyond and ask, "Where's the duck?" or "Where's the potato on this page?".

How you use this tool depends on how quickly your child grasps the concept that the objects pictured have names, are sometimes found in special places, and serve specific purposes.

The only "downside" to this volume is that there are a lot of items on each page, which can make it a little busy for the younger child. Older youngsters probably won't have a problem with this.