Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. These opinions are completely my own

A wonderfully bright and cheerful book to help children learn . I adore that there is an adorable little mouse to find on each page. The brightly coloured noses also brought a smile to my face.

When my daughter first began to talk, her father and I kept a list of the words she knew pinned up in the dining room, adding to the list with each new word. It was so exciting to watch her vocabulary grow! Before she turned two, the list hit 350 words and we ran out of room on the tabloid sized sheet and stopped keeping track. Today, at twelve, my daugher is a voracious reader, “nor” and “whilst” and “defenstrate” are in frequent rotation, and she’s excelling in English Language Arts.

There exists much research around school success and knowing more than 10,000 words before kindergarten to prevent the million-word gap–and reading children’s picture books, with uncontrolled vocabularies and rich, vivid language akin only to poetry–are the best and most proven way to acheive this. The intent of this book is to name familiar objects and introduce new ones, but England and America remain two countries separated by the same language. That said there is nothing preventing parents from renaming objects to more familiar words, as the very simplistic content is aimed at non-readers under age four.

This vocabulary-building concept book breaks down a toddler’s experience into two-page spreads, with sections titled First Things to Learn (food, colors, shapes, clothes), followed by Things in Nature, Things You Can Do, Things Inside Your House, etc. An orange (red?) mouse is a constant companion on each page, holding a balloon, (presumably) counting dots, sitting on a dog, gripping an umbrella. The mouse seems to be the same figure in the same few positions for much of the book, and on at least one page, her dress is the same color as the item she’s sitting on, and without contrast, she doesn’t stand out. The head is always at the same angle, and expressionless; any personality has to be conveyed through her dress and position. The mouse is never labeled or named, and is an observer more than an interacter; this doesn’t mean it’s not a fun to play “spot the mousie” on each page.

I particularly love this art style, which is flat, simple, stark shapes and few embellishments, that looks like it was made from cut paper collage but is likely digital (there are no endnotes about the art or font). The palette is muted and dull, and it beautiful, restful, and consistent, but not necessarily accurate. The red is actually a rose or pale maroon, and there are three shades of blue (“light blue,” “dark blue,” and “blue”) with a very fine gradation between the three colors, or between “pink” and “rose.” “Olive green” is a wild card – while I’m a fan of introducing unusual words, that one seems pretty foreign. Why no black or white? Why not dark brown? It’s not clear at what part the creator drew the line between common and less common colors. Space to rest the eyes is inconsistent. Some two-page spreads are crammed with items, others more luxurious and expansive. Near the end, What Are These Buildings Called? show a castle that looks like a screaming four-eyed moose and a house with round windows that look like eyes over a door that looks like a mouth. It’s a bit disturbing.

There are so many missed opportunities here. “Things” is not at all descriptive, and is overused as a borad category. Dividing into categories is just a waste of space and paper. The excellent headings, all questions that prompt dialogical reading and further discussion, would have sufficed. The labeling of objects is inconsistent: sometimes ON the object (and difficult to read due to lack of contrast), sometimes right next to the obejct and clear as to what the letters are lableing, sometimes with a dotted line connecting directly to the object being named. There are some Britishisms, like “aunty” and British spellings, like colour and “grey.” Cucumbers are labelled “courgettes,” and a wrench is a “spanner,” while rain boots labelled boots, not rubbers or wellies. The characters are predominantly white, and occupations are predominently steroetyped. An astronaut is likened to stars and planets under What Can You Find In Space? Snow is left off the weather page, but depicted, and unlabelled, in the spread What Are The Four Seasons? A more blatant error on the What Animals Would You Have Found Long Ago? spread depicts mammoths alongside dinosaurs, which did not co-exist. Nonfiction, even for very small children, must be accurate.

The end pages ask, So What Does 1,000 … Really Look Like? Instead of showing every item illustrated in the book (which presumably add up to 1,000 items–are we counting the labels, or the icons? I counted 274 terms), there are repetitive images of the counting dots, trees, mushrooms, a hedgehog or porcupine (which does not appear elsewhere and is not named or labeled), apples, teacups, birds, flowers, raindrops, mountains, and a hexagon (also not labeled or shown elsewhere)–I could not be bothered to count to see if there were actually 1,000.

This is a conditional purchase for home or library collections. Caregivers interested in visual vocabularies might consider sticking with an old-school book like Richard Scarry’s whimsical and cartoonish Best Word Book Ever. Alternatively, the beautifully illustrated collage picture book Lifetime: The Amazing Numbers in Animal’s Lives is a more artistic math concept book that incorporates nature and actually shows how many items make up a count of a thousand.

I receved a free advance reader’s review copy of #OneThousandThings via #NetGalley courtesy of #QuartroPublishingGroup. This review will post to HLBB on 1/6/2025.

Fantastic book for young children, with engaging and visually appealing elements on each spread.
My early reader loved the vocabulary words and how each image was relevant, without being overwhelming.
I know several little people who I will be buying this delightful book for.

I will definitely be purchasing this book for my library. This is exactly the kind of book that the little kids I work with love - bright, colorful pictures with easy to identify objects that they can point to and name (or ask an adult to name). It helps put in perspective what 1,000 things look like, even for me!

A beautifully illustrated book for children, it covers all the basics from the numbers and body parts to things in the surroundings and professions. It is a well rounded book for a child to learn and the attractive and simple illustrations are sure to capture their attention. All you need is an enthusiastic reading style to spend some quality time with the little one filled with a lot of learning to go with this book!

There's a lot to love about this vibrantly produced and character filled vocabulary builder. We follow Little Mouse through a range of different spread and scenes designed to increase vocabulary in a variety of contexts: colours, seasons, body parts, vegetables, weather and many more.

As always, Kovecses has created distinctive illustrations that are colourful but clear and I loved the patterns that decorate the clothing of characters and the end papers. The book is divided into different categories of 'Things' which can be a good way to introduce a manageable amount of vocabulary per time spent reading with a little one.

The illustrations in this book are beautiful. I really like the bright, bold colours and simple shapes. What I don't really understand is where the title of the book comes from. There aren't 1000 things in the book (unless we're counting individual letters, unlabelled things and random dots and shapes etc) and the only reference to this is on the last pages, which look more like endpapers than the main part of the book itself.

It's a nice first words/picture dictionary-type book albeit with some extra bits I'm not sure are necessary (the colours page has the very similar pink and rose as well as three blues - blue, dark and light) but the pictures are almost not detailed or accurate enough for matching to real-life examples, for example, on the face page, the nose is a dark blue teardrop and the potato on the vegetables page is an orange oval.

As an adult, I enjoyed the artwork, I'm just not sure how much it would appeal to young children.

A book that might make you think you've learnt a thousand things, before showing us an actual spread containing, apparently, a thousand different things. Here are workers, landscape elements, parts of our face and body, our numbers, seasons and relatives – all arrayed in themed pages that help us, with clear labelling, to really boost or ensure our early vocab. The visuals are a sort of quietly cartoonish kind, with great clarity, to make it easier to ascertain things. Oh, and there is also a mouse character to keep on spotting as we turn the pages, so we may well be returning to this just for the fun, as opposed to the lesson. With nothing to mark it down for, it's well worth the consideration.

A visually stunning presentation of first words for early readers in a bold illustrations reminiscent of wooden toys, the book One Thousand Things is the perfect first encyclopaedia. The book explores the world as seen from the POV of a 1-4 year old with their first batch of words to see and say. The areas the author has explored are colours, numbers, shapes, opposites, different times of the day, human body, nature, world, things inside and outside of your house.
The book is interactive and engaging, and is visually appealing.

This is a lovely book and would make a beautiful Christmas present! Each page has a different spread of things to learn about - colours, the body, the world, space, foods - the content is briliant. The pictures are simple but beautiful and each double page has so much to took at and explore. The colours are bright and bold and perfect for young children to look at.

A really timeless book that can be enjoyed over and over by children on their own or with an adult.

This is a great book for young children - infants to young toddlers. The illustrations are beautiful and calming. I would enjoy these pages as art.

The theme is simple and the pictures are basic but bright and pretty. Kids learning to read can practice common words while learning to recognize patterns. This is fun and could lead to good discussions. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

I received an electronic ARC from Quarto Publishing Group – Wide Eyed Editions through NetGalley.
Kovecses offers a fun way to look at 1000 words for young readers. Each page spread is dedicated to a different topic with identifying words. The brightly colored artwork will pull readers in to identify the pictures/shapes/colors, etc. to connect them to the words. A terrific book for young families and preschool classrooms.

The book has nice graphics but I found the content a bit too simplistic and lacks hooks to get children engaged.

This book has adorable graphics, that are easy to understand and simple in design. I think it'll be a great place for kids to learn how to draw basic shapes too. I like how it's structured - starting with the basics and things closest to the child and expanding as the book progresses. It shows useful words and teaches about emotions and behavior in a simple and clear way.
The pages aren't overwhelming and focus on one topic.

Nice colour scheme, which is rare for a children’s book.
A good resource for first words.
Had this been more comprehensive and more detailed, could have been a better reading/teaching and learning experience.

Similar to the 2015 edition of a book by the same titles, this highlight of this book is it's beautiful imagery. A good introduction to basic words, though the 2015 edition is not a title that is often pulled from the shelves. The book benefits from the hidden mouse on each page.

Cute book that covers basic vocabulary for young children. Each 2-page spread contains animated pictures with labels around a theme (What animals are on a farm? cow, pig, etc.). There is a cute mouse that kids can search for on each page. Pages are not overcrowded.
A few words are British English vocabulary, and the book is produced by a British publisher. Not an issue, but some American English speakers may want to be aware.

Age - Birth-6 (sight words are great)

This honest review was given in exchange for a Netgalley ebook copy.

I thought that this book was beautifully illustrated. I loved the simple illustrations with the name of the item. I think this would be perfect for any early readers learning vocabulary. I do wish there was a little more diversity in this book and showed more occupations and blended families. It wasn't super necessary for this book but just some food for thought.

Thank you to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

One Thousand Things is an adorable book for teaching young children first words. Age is probably 1-3 years old, the colors are bright and energetic but still muted. Each page is laid out beautifully and feels full and visually stimulating without overwhelming the reader.

I have to admit that the description and title feel a little misleading, "One Thousand Things" to me meant each page would feature one thousand things. So the first page might be one thousand apples laid out with a caption that reads "this is what one thousand apples looks like." etc.

What the book actually is a first words book. The beginning is more like "words about me" and it features body parts, clothes, etc. Then we get into words associated with family, seasons, animals etc.

I still couldn't tell you where the one thousand things came in. Was there one thousand things in the whole book? I don't know.

If you're like me and think this is going to have one thousand things on each page, this is not your book. BUT if you're looking for a modern take on a first words book, it's great!