Cones

Gr 2–4—Though neatly designed and kitted out with big, bright color photos, these simplistic introductions to solid shapes are likely to sow more confusion than enlightenment. Along with factual errors (no, grave goods were not discovered inside the thoroughly looted Egyptian pyramids, and beach umbrellas are seldom if ever "shaped like a pyramid"), these definitions fail to mention that objects in nature only approximate ideal shapes. As a result, for "How many types of fruit that are spheres can you count in this picture?" the truly accurate answer, using the given definition, would be "none." Also, the author notes that cubes are a type of prism only in Prisms, not Cubes. Furthermore, the illustrations don't always measure up—graphic representations of a prism and a pyramid are drawn in a bewildering, semi-transparent way, and the activities in the back matter are often less than thrilling (Pyramids features an invitation to glue pennies to a pyramid shaped piece of Styrofoam).