Elmer's First Counting Book by David McKee
| Elmer's First Counting Book by David McKee | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A vivid and entertaining counting book loosely based on Elmer the patchwork elephant and in board form. It's a good way to introduce counting to the youngest readers. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 12 | Date: March 2012 |
| Publisher: Andersen | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1842706305 | |
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It's a lovely board book in the Elmer series and a lovely way of introducing the youngest readers to the patchwork elephant although there's only one of him and as this is a counting book he only gets to feature on the front and back covers and the first page.
The pages are chunky and will stand up to a lot of rough handling - this isn't a book you need to be precious about. The book is shaped - elephant-shaped, if that makes sense - and this means that it's quite easy to hold despite being slightly larger than many board books. The pages turn easily and stay open and there's plenty on each page to capture the imagination.
The colours are vivid and eye-catching - and just this side of eye-watering but this probably isn't a time in a child's life when subtlety matters. We move from one elephant smiling through different numbers of animals, insects, fish and culminating in ten birds singing. Each animal is associated with an action (or inaction in the case of the lions who are dreaming) and I did keep expecting to finish with 'and a partridge in a pear tree'.
The illustrations will make you smile - I thought the tigers had taken up Greek dancing - and it's a book that has the re-read quality, with more to see on a second reading. I'm not convinced about introducing children who need board books to the concept of counting (but then the way that I mastered the idea automatically added jack, queen, king after ten) but it's a fun and enjoyable book for young children.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
If the principle interests you then we can also recommend The Selfish Crocodile Counting Book by Faustin Charles and Michael Terry.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Elmer's First Counting Book by David McKee at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Elmer's First Counting Book by David McKee at Amazon.com.
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