Koala Bare by Jackie French

Ill. by Matt Shanks. Angus and Robertson, 2017. ISBN 9781460751619
(Age: 4-9) Koala Bare is the latest book from the excellent author of the Diary of a Wombat series, Jackie French. It follows the tale of a koala who is trying its best to convince the bird (that I figure is on the committee for the provision of actual bears) that it is actually NOT a bear - like most people thought. Each page shows another type of bear and why Koalas don't fit into the category. I love the illustrations by Matt Shanks, he uses water colours that stand out on the white background and draw your eye into the funny happenings of the bears around them (I personally like the fishing polar bear and the panda bear at the bamboo restaurant).
The rhyme is nice and short, and uses coloured and enlarged text to enable the reader to add sounds, tone and expression to the story. This book could very easily be used as the centrepiece for learning around bears/animals/Australian animals, habitats, homophones, text types and rhyming. I think it would be a wonderful resource for a reception class to use and study.
This book could also be read to children up to the age of 8 or 9. Overall this is another great title in the Jackie French collection that will be on the shelves of many libraries and in many homes in the near future!
Lauren Fountain