By David Horvath, Sun-Min Kim
Random House Books for Young Readers, $14.99, 32 pages
ISBN 9780375864346

Political commentary and children’s book rarely work well together. What Dat? The Great Big Ugly Doll Book of Things to Look at, Search for, Point to, and Wonder About is meant to teach children words, and is thus subdivided into a variety of different areas where words are likely to be encountered in those areas. With over 563 words presented, it does a fairly decent job of making the task of learning those words fun.

The illustrations are fun, and it is easy to find where the objects would go. Several areas have specific things to look for (such as the unicorn in the shop section). It also helps that there is a definite cast of monsters throughout the book to provide familiar faces. However, there is also a some commentary that feels wrong in a children’s book: it’s not that children should not be taught to think but that parents will need to explain the concepts behind, say, why those that like organic food are clones of each other, or about how some believe the moon landing was faked. If you can survive the marginalized commentary, however, it’s actually a fairly decent book to teach kids about words.

Reviewed by Jamais Jochim