Spiky, Slimy, Smooth: What is Texture

By: Jane Brocket
Publisher: Millbrook Press
Publication Date: March 2011
ISBN: 978-0761346142
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler
Reviewed: April 2011

When you touch things around you, the way they feel is called “texture.” There are many different textures around and as you explore this book, you can imagine what many objects feel like. Two “soft and fluffy” duck slippers peek out at you. Another thing that feels the same way is the whipped frosting on a cake, which feels “light and spongy” when you eat it. If you are into “sticky and gooey” a nice strawberry jam will feel that way if you get some on your fingers when you are eating your toast. Do you know one thing that is soooo “gooey and very oooooozy?” Of course it is the mud you feel between your toes as you walk barefoot through it. Squish, squish!

If you’ve ever felt dried out flower heads in the garden or in an old bouquet, you know they are “dry and papery.” If you “rub them between your fingers” they will “crumble into little flakes.” Cookies sprinkled with powdered sugar “feel dry” to the touch. They don’t feel yucky, but if you touch a “spiky and sharp” cactus plant you won’t like it much. If you walk barefoot on a beach, sometimes the pebbles and stones can be sharp and pointy” so you need to wear some sandals. If you keep exploring the smooth, glossy pages of this book, you’ll find even more interesting textures to think about and imagine. You’ll find smooth and shiny, thick and smooth, juicy, plain and smooth, knobbly and warty, curvy and lumpy, greasy and wet, and wobbly and runny.

I loved the ingenuity of this book, a book that could lead to many other activities in the homeschool or classroom setting. The endpapers of this book even have a texture that the preschooler or young student can talk about. The unusual descriptive words to describe objects will encourage children to expand their imaginative vocabulary and express themselves. Children will also be encouraged to observe and explore the world around them finding interesting textures in their own environment. Each page has one or more photographs that clearly show what is being described. For example when a squash is being described children can easily see the “knobbly and warty” surface of one. This book can be used as part of a segment when the five senses are discussed or would be an excellent read and discuss book during circle or story time in the homeschool or classroom setting.

Quill says: This is a unique and fun book to explore the sensory experience of textures.