25 months - O was way beyond this book but she always likes Kipper so she looked at it a couple of times. I think there are other opposite books that cover more in board book format. ( )

In this book, Kipper illustrates a number of different opposites pairs such as day and night and big and small. There is no storyline at all, just the opposites pairs featured on a spread each with accompanying illustrations of Kipper with something different on each page - i.e., he is shown with a stick taller than himself for "long" on the left page and then shown having bitten the stick into pieces and holding what up what is left for "short." I don't know why, but I didn't care for this book much compared to some others I used with my toddler class for talking about opposites. I would chalk that up to just me having some odd aversion to Kipper (I also didn't like Kipper's Book of Colors much either but for some reason thought the opposites one would be better.) But the kids in my class didn't seem as interested in this one either. For me, the illustrations weren't the greatest and for a book with little text, that's not a good thing to say the least. If a book is only going to feature the opposites pairs text-wise, I prefer illustrations that seem a little more cohesive than these ones that exist in a weird background-less space. In addition, despite being very simple and thus seemingly geared at the youngest of readers (i.e., infants and toddlers), this isn't a sturdy board book but a picture book. ( )

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1995)
Imported from Britain, small concept books featuring the pooch known to toddlers from Kipper (Little, Brown, 1992), Kipper's Toybox, and Kipper's Birthday (both Harcourt, 1992 and 1993). Opposites features contrasting pairs such as new/old (a just-unwrapped, inflated ball vs. a pile of flat, chewed ones), up/down (a squirrel runs up and down the sides of a tree), and long/short (a long, smooth stick is chewed into little ragged pieces). Weather shows Kipper relishing the weather, whether frolicking in leaves, splashing through rain, or wearing a trash-can lid as a helmet in a hailstorm. These are a tad more sophisticated than others of their ilk, but follow the usual form of one word in large type per page on heavy stock, with ebullient paintings of the adventuresome canine surrounded by plenty of white space. Also in the series: books of Colors and Numbers (0-15-200647-8, 0-15-200646-X). 1995, Harcourt Brace, $6.00 ea.. © 1995 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved ( )