Some Things Go Together

"Some Things Go Together" is a good learning book for young children offering colorful drawings and word associations to teach youngsters what goes with what. Some of the word associations in this book deal with symbolism (like, house with love) while others deal with direct relationships (like grass and green). Most of the associations are nouns and/or adjectives but there are a few verbs too, to broaden the learning experience. To add to the learning and memorization process, each of the word associations is paired with another one that rhymes. This was a good idea on the part of the author because kids tend to remember things when they rhyme. Take away the rhyming and many of these associations would not remain in a child's memory bank for very long. The rhyming pattern makes it easy to memorize the different associations. Kids enjoy the verbal aspects of this book but they also like the pictures. The pictures are drawings and they feature lots of people, animals, and objects. The author and illustrator decided to mix up the illustrations by depicting full- page drawings some of the pages (specifically, on the word associations that come one for every two pages) and smaller, snapshot- like drawings (on the word associations that come one to a page) on others. To emphasize the importance of family, the caption "you with me" (or "me with you") appears multiple times. At first, I felt this was a sign that the author lacked creative writing talent. But then I understood that this was done for a reason: So that little kids would realize that the most important association of all is that between him/her and the parents. This is the association that the book drives home the most intensely: That among all of the ways things go together, the two that are most important are personal relationships. Overall, "Some Things Go Together" is a nice little children's book that offers some learning material and some nice pictures and rhymes. It isn't quite the hit with my girls and their friends that other books are but it gets enough of a daily workout to recommend.

The 1983 edition of this simple, attractive book--by one of the most respected authors of books for young children--is illustrated by Karen Gundersheimer. Her multi-colored drawings are reminiscent of those by the renowned illustrator, Maurice Sendak.The idea that mother and child go together is reinforced several times throughout with phrases like: "Leaves with tree and you with me," or "Sand and sea and you with me," and concluding with, "Sky with blue AND ME WITH YOU!" The small size of "Some Things Go Together," make it perfect for mother and child reading together, especially with preschool or kindergarten aged children.

In "Some Things Go Together" Ashley Wolff has taken a charming 30 year old story and added wonderful, colorful illustrations. The simple rhymns are wimsically pictured by Wolff - such as a mother sitting with her child reading or her colorful parade of clowns, dancing dogs and prancing horses! A book you will love to read to your child and your child will love to read!