Black, white and red are the first three colors a newborn can perceive, and this board book is drawn in nothing else. Twenty stiff pages set one idea against its opposite: a small red duck facing a large black elephant, a steaming striped cup facing an ice cream cone, an empty round bowl facing the same bowl crowded with black fish with red fins, a closed lash line facing a wide open eye.

The shapes are flat, hard edged and enormous on the page, which is the entire point. In the first months a baby resolves edges and contrast long before it resolves detail, and the small red accents give the eye a target to hunt once it can track. Agnese Baruzzi drew it, Chiara Piroddi edited it, and the publisher prints on the back cover that the approach is inspired by the methods of Maria Montessori.

It is 6-1/4 in square, weighs about eight ounces and has no flaps, wheels, sound modules or loose parts, so it survives a diaper bag and a determined pair of hands. White Star Kids grades it 0 to 12 months.

Board book, 20 pages, 6-1/4 in square with a 9/16 in spine. White Star Kids of Milan, first printing February 2023, distributed in the United States by Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9788854419506.

A different opposites board book High contrast tummy time book