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Can You Find 12 Busy Bees?

Jul23
Can You Find 12 Busy Bees?

Can You Find 12 Busy Bees?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can You Find 12 Busy Bees?

Gordon Winch

Patrick Shirvington

New Frontier, 2019

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781925594560

In 2017, Gordon Winch and Patrick Shirvington presented our youngest readers with an introduction to some of this country’s native fauna and flora in the hauntingly beautiful Can You Find Me?. Now they have teamed up again to delve closely into what might be living in the garden with this new counting book that is as stunning as the first.

Beginning with some of the larger creatures such as the blue-tongued lizard and kookaburras, young readers are enticed to look more and more closely at the illustrations to discover just what might be hiding amongst the trees, bushes, flowers and leaves, culminating in a challenge to find all of them in the final spread. As well as the introduction to iconic creatures and enabling the reader to practise their counting skills, like the first book, it  encourages them to look more closely at their environment and see it with new eyes, to appreciate it more and perhaps even preserve it more carefully.

A counting book that does so much more than help little ones count.  

The Ultimate Animal Counting Book

Apr16
The Ultimate Animal Counting Book

The Ultimate Animal Counting Book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ultimate Animal Counting Book

Jennifer Cossins

Lothian Children’s, 2019

136pp., hbk., RRP $A29.99

9780734418852

Start with one blue whale and finish with 100 fairy flies and in between meet and learn about 98 other amazing creatures in this incredible counting book originally created “to inspire children to learn more about the natural world” and to have them “enjoy, question, investigate and wonder.” 

Each featured creature (little ones can practise their counting skills to make sure the illustrator has drawn the right number) is accompanied by a collection of single-sentence facts. Some of the creatures like the zebras and lions will be familiar but who has heard of a gerenuk or a capybara?

In 2017 Cossins’ book A-Z of Endangered Animals was an Honour Book in the CBCA Eve Pownall Awards and this new book has just as much attention to detail and accuracy as it does appeal for the reader. As well as fascinate, it will inspire the budding zoologist and broaden the child’s knowledge of the diversity of this planet’s inhabitants and the critical role they play in its survival.  

A Parade of Elephants

Feb7
A Parade of Elephants

A Parade of Elephants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Parade of Elephants

Kevin Henkes

Greenwillow, 2018

40pp., hbk., RRP $A29.99

9780062668271

Here they come ….one, two, three, four, five.  A parade of elephants who like to march and march and march.  Round and round they go, up, down, under, over, in and out – they march all day.  Until bedtime when they lift their trunks and trumpet and scatter stars across the sky.

From the butterflies and sun on the front endpage to the moon and stars on the back, this is a charming story that will help little ones learn to count and understand positional words.  They will enjoy being elephants and finding their own places to march though, up, under, in and out and over. Perfect for our youngest readers who will be able to match the words and pictures learning valuable concepts about how print works, this is a charming bedtime story as well as an early maths book! Promote it to your early childhood teachers and parent body who are looking for something delightful but different.

 

Learn with Ruby Red Shoes Counting Book

Jan23
Learn with Ruby Red Shoes Counting Book

Learn with Ruby Red Shoes Counting Book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learn with Ruby Red Shoes Counting Book

Kate Knapp

Angus & Robertson, 2018

32pp., hbk., RRP $A14.99

9781460756911

 

One is for me. I’m one of a kind.

I’m separate from you and

I know my own mind.

Unlike a lot of counting books for early childhood which just have a digit and a word and the required number of objects (of whatever theme) beside them, this is more personalised as Ruby introduces the young reader to the things that she likes.  The rhyming format and the gentle pictures which earned the creator a shortlisting 2013 Children’s Book Council of Australia Crichton Award for Children’s Book Illustration, carry the story from page to page and do more than just teach counting and matching skills.

Ruby Red Shoes is fast becoming a popular figure with our littlest readers and the accompanying website with its activities, news, and opportunity to write to Ruby provides a broader experience.  

Also released at this time is the requisite alphabet book and in March 2019, two more books will be added to the series.

Coming soon...

Coming soon…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Shoe Two Shoes

Oct7
One Shoe Two Shoes

One Shoe Two Shoes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Shoe Two Shoes

Caryl Hart

Edward Underwood

Bloomsbury, 2018

32pp., pbk., RRP $A12.99

9781408873052

One shoe
Two shoes
Red shoes
Blue shoes

Wet shoe
Dry shoe
Old shoes
New shoes

Shoes, shoes and more shoes . . . this book is bursting with them. From party shoes and flip-flops to cowboy boots and clogs, there’s a pair here to suit everyone. There’s even a shoe house for a little mouse!

Reminiscent of Ffrida Wolfe’s poem Choosing Shoes this story follows a dog out for a walk with its master noticing all the different types of shoes and then switches to its discovery of a family of mice who have made their home in a shoe! Its bouncy rhyme and rhythm will appeal to young listeners as they are introduced to colours, patterns and numbers in an engaging way.  

Great for preschoolers who will chant along with you and can have fun exploring colours and patterns by matching the shoes in the family’s wardrobes!.

 

 

Look Up! Numbers, Colours and Shapes in Architecture

Aug31
Look Up! Numbers, Colours and Shapes in Architecture

Look Up! Numbers, Colours and Shapes in Architecture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look Up! Numbers, Colours and Shapes in Architecture

Antonia Pesenti

Little Hare, 2018

48pp., hbk., RRP $A29.99

9781760125240

For the most part, our children are surrounded by buildings – manmade structures that are carefully designed and constructed to be as aesthetically pleasing as they are functional.  In this book, with the help of a little snail who carries is building on his back, young readers are encouraged to take a closer look at the features of these buildings and discover numbers, colours and shapes. 

Using 18 well-known buildings from around the world such as the Tate Modern in London, St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow and the Seattle Central Library, the various features are pointed out using a minimum of words – those that have been used are explained using colour or shape or numbers – as the visual elements of each are the most important. Very young readers can use these clues to find the parts of the building that matches them while starting to build the basic maths concepts. 

In the late 1980s maths trails were a much-loved phenomenon to help students understand the concepts of number and shape as they were encouraged to find examples of each in their environment as they followed a set of clues.  They loved the investigative nature of the quest, being in the outdoors and the challenge of completing their task before another team.  Students from Kindy to Year 6 could be found exploring their environment, eagerly talking numbers, shapes, measurement and other maths concepts So this book would be the ideal precursor to revitalising that activity. Older students could use it as a model for developing their own maths trail around the school or local area.

For those who have an emphasis on STEM its application is broad – creating models of the buildings featured or being challenged to construct buildings that feature four red towers that are pyramids (for example).  A double-page spread at the end identifies all the featured buildings so others might like to map the locations of the buildings and plan a journey to visit them, costing it for future reference.

Sometimes the seemingly simplest  of books offer the greatest wealth of ideas – and this is up there.  If nothing else, the book demonstrates that we are surrounded by mathematics – it’s not just something confined to a slot in the school timetable.

Hello to You, Moon

Jul27
Hello to You, Moon

Hello to You, Moon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello to You, Moon

Sally Morgan

Sonny & Biddy

Little Hare, 2017

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99   

9781760125462

When little people draw the curtains on the day, snuggle down and close their eyes, little do they know that a whole different world is waking up. 

From the fading of the light  through to the twinkling black and on until the dawning of the new day, as the constellations shift across the heavens and Moon completes its journey for another night, across the world nocturnal creatures are getting on with their lives, each paying homage to that timeless orb that will outlast and outlive them as it has done for generations of their forbears. From the kangaroo coughing at the moon at dusk in an Australian desert, to the jungles of Asia where sun-bears snuffle and grunt and to the still silence of the extra-long Antarctic night where penguins scurry and honk, the planet is populated by species that prefer the cool light of the moon to the bright heat of the sun. And while not all of them are strictly nocturnal, nevertheless all respond to the moon through movement and sound that little ones will like to mimic. 

Stunningly illustrated in the details, textures and colours of the night, and building as a counting story, author and illustrators have brought the after-dark to life introducing the youngest readers to the nocturnal world in a way that will make them want to learn more about what else is up and about while they sleep and why they choose dark over light.  It may also encourage curiosity about the Moon – why does it change shape; where does it go in the daytime; why can we sometimes see it in the day and not at night – but my favourite activity is to get them to listen to the sounds of night falling and imagine those things that are tucking themselves in for the night as they are and those things that are waking and greeting their new ‘day’.  

Formal  teaching notes are available.

A peek inside...

A peek inside…

Roald Dahl’s 1 2 3

Jun17
Roald Dahl's 1 2 3

Roald Dahl’s 1 2 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roald Dahl’s 1 2 3

Roald Dahl

Quentin Blake

Puffin, 2018

16pp., board book., RRP $A12.99

9780241330364

What happens when you mix the master storytelling of Roald Dahl, iconic bright illustrations by Quentin Blake and the time-proven format of a counting book?  You get a fantastic book for very young readers that introduces them to an author/illustrator combination that will delight them for years.

Using The Enormous Crocodile as its base, young children will delight in seeing all the other chiddlers gather to play in the park while at the same time, in true pantomime style, wanting to yell out at warn them about what they can see hiding in the bushes.  Counting books are plentiful, those that tell a story not-so, and those which build to a climax that is only resolved by a cunning lift-the-flap conclusion, rare.  This book ticks so many essential boxes in helping our youngest readers continue their reading journey with confidence and independence  knowing that the BEST books tell a story.  Miss 3 adored it and will be a Dahl/Blake fan for life, just like Miss Almost-12!

Jasper Juggles Jellyfish

Jun14
Jasper Juggles Jellyfish

Jasper Juggles Jellyfish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jasper Juggles Jellyfish

Ben Long

David Cornish

Ford Street, 2018 

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781925736038

“By the corals of the ocean, where it’s quiet, calm and cool, 

an octopus named Jasper dragged his tentacles to school.

He felt that counting jellyfish was too much of a struggle.

“I just can’t do it,” Jasper said. “I’d rather learn to juggle.”

And so, with the help of some obliging jellyfish, he did.  First he tried throwing them all in the air but they splattered everywhere, so on the wise advice of freckle he started with just one, then two then three, then four.  But four proved a bit of a challenge so it was time for some more advice, this time from Curlywurly and soon Jasper discovered he could count way past the original five!

With its unique concept, rhyming text that is LOL funny, and bright bold pictures, this is a charming counting book that will engage the young reader because it has a real story to it.  It’s more than just pointing, matching and counting underscoring the book’s message that we can learn anything if we find a way that suits us.  And there is so much more in the story than just being able to count to 12, all of which would lend itself to some splendid artwork that could explain all that the children have learned while they’ve been having such fun.

Superb.

Crash! Boom! A Maths Tale

May30
Crash! Boom! A Maths Tale

Crash! Boom! A Maths Tale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crash! Boom! A Maths Tale

Robie H. Harris

Chris Chatterton

Walker, 2018

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

 9781406380514

Elephant is building a tower with his blocks.  He wants it to be as tall as he is and while he just manages it on his first attempt with four blocks stacked on their edges, it’s very wobbly!  CRASH! BOOM! Down it tumbles.  

After throwing an elephant-sized tanty, using all sorts of maths-related words, he has another look and another try.  This time he tries the same blocks, but flat this time… 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8!  And is stands until he crash booms it himself.  And then he looks at the other blocks in his tub…

Far from being a stand-alone subject in the curriculum that brings out the moans and groans, we are surrounded by maths concepts and even our youngest readers will enjoy this story as the illustrations are so evocative, the text is just a bonus!  Exploring 3D shapes; which stack, which don’t; counting the blocks as they are added and thinking about why one tower took 4 and the other 8; using the language of comparison and building towers that are as tall as, taller  than, shorter than other objects; even the dexterity and eye-hand co-ordination involved in the stacking – there is a wealth of activity in this seemingly simple book.  

Perfect for keeping the preschooler occupied for hours without a screen and learning at the same time!