AN AUSTRALIAN 1,2,3 OF ANIMALS

Using a mixture of techniques from her Aboriginal background and her own artistic creativity, Bancroft entices children to count from one to 15 as they view an array of Australian animals cavorting on brightly colored pages. These emus “running,” lizards “hissing” and sugar gliders “sailing” are generally found on double-page spreads (after numbers one to three), and inventive children and adults can go beyond counting to practice addition with three and four “turtles plodding” across two pages. The boldly outlined animals filled with dotted designs are strikingly placed in each spread. Although the book can be used by younger children, older kids may want to learn more about the animals and try their own hand at creating pictures of these unusual creatures. Unfortunately, there is no information about these animals, but this can be a jumpstart to looking at other books about the country. The author has also created An Australian ABC of Animals (2005). (Picture book. 2-7)