Arthur the aardvark and his friends are back again, this time to expand young readers' vocabularies. Marc Brown's really truly helpful word book--reminiscent of Richard Scarry's work--is chock full of labeled objects, from tea kettle to tuna fish to circuit breaker to rock star. A brief paragraph introduces each page, leaving readers free to peruse the lively pictures and words at their leisure. The very young child will use the book to learn the names of things, while children a bit older will develop and hone their new reading skills. Different settings--school, Daddy's kitchen, the beach in summer--allow readers to see learning opportunities in their everyday lives. Arthur's popularity and TV-star status among youngsters will inspire them to read on! Full of motion, color, and life, this book will be an automatic favorite. (Ages 2 and older) --Emilie Coulter