MILLER, Marie-Therese . Near and Far . ISBN 9781728486727 . MILLER, Marie-Therese . Top and Bottom . ISBN 9781728486734 . SCHUH, Mari . High and Low . ISBN 9781728486765 . SCHUH, Mari . In Front and Behind . ISBN 9781728486772 . SCHUH, Mari . Over and Under . ISBN 9781728486758 . ea vol: 24p. (Sesame Street: Directional Words). Lerner . Aug. 2023. Tr $29.32. PreS-Gr 2— This winning series establishes its playfulness from the start. Covers and title pages feature lovable Sesame Street characters while describing what awaits readers inside. Besides delivering charm, this series offers plentiful learning opportunities as it helps children explore directionality, spatiality, and opposites. Each book's first page describes its concept very simply, with the target word pair printed in different colors at the top of the page. A character speaks directly to readers, explaining the concept with a concrete example. Several subsequent pages define each word in the pair separately and feature vivid photos of characters and kids. Then comes the fun "Can You Guess?" section, asking readers to determine which word of the pair is featured with each again highlighted in distinctive hues. Five different photos, each with an explanatory heading, feature a racially diverse subject in some kind of "directional relationship" and are captioned with a question asking where the individual(s) in the photo are. Questions are always expressed in terms of opposites: e.g., "Are these friends inside/outside&30;?" Answers and character commentaries follow. A quick wrap-up activity concludes the guessing game. Back matter features check children's understandings, offer picture glossaries and brief bibliographies, and include an index. VERDICT Highly recommended. Children will come to understand the idea of objects' and their own relative positions in space—a fundamental math skill.