The Selfish Crocodile Counting Book by Faustin Charles and Michael Terry

Counting books are essentially a sequence of pages with different numbers of various objects on them, and The Selfish Crocodile is no different: ten (plus a final double tableaux of them all) pages with pictures of animals, going, as it might be expected from 1 to 10, with short captions; ranging from the one selfish crocodile of the title to ten cheeky monkeys, by the way of lounging lizards, fluttering flamingos, slithery snakes and happy hippos.

There is some nice euphony as in the above examples, although it has not been extended to all 10 sets (and thus we also have tall giraffes and speedy cheetahs). The illustrations, which really make this kind of a book, are very good and well matched with the cognitive equipment of small children: bold colours, realistic but simplified shapes, a bit of detail but not much, smiley faces and lost of dynamic activity going on in each picture.

The Selfish Crocodile is most appropriate for toddlers and possibly some younger preschoolers, and apart from being a counting book, it is also a good animal book – and animals are such a great topic of picture books for the littlest children! They are interesting to look at (they have faces but are of all colours and shapes), they make noises that parents can imitate (what does a hippo say, please????), they can act as a jumping point for talking, learning about and explaining everything from colours to verbs of movement to habitats. Oh, and numbers too.

My 18 month old likes the The Selfish Crocodile very much, and although I seriously doubt he'll learn to count any time soon (though even babies, apparently, have some inherent sense of number!), he is getting plenty of enjoyment out of it nevertheless.

Not perhaps as wonderfully inventive and full of wonders as the classic Very Hungry Caterpillar, but a nice one nevertheless and recommended for all toddlers, especially in this solid board format.

Thanks to the publisher for sending the BookBag this volume.

There are many good jungle and savannah picture books out there, from ROAR! to The Noisiest Night but the one no toddler should do without is the classic Rod Campbell's Dear Zoo, while those just a tiny bit bigger will like the mayhem of the Whoosh Around the Mulberry Bush. For more counting fun, take a look at 3 and me! by Various.

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You can read more book reviews or buy The Selfish Crocodile Counting Book by Faustin Charles and Michael Terry at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.

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