Counting Aussie animals in my backyard by Bronwyn Houston

Magabala Books, 2014. ISBN  9781922142542
(Age: Pre school) Recommended. Picture book, Counting, Australian animals. With the luminous style of illustration found in Bronwyn's previous books, Staircase to the moon, and My home Broome, this counting book will find a place in schools and libraries as well as homes. It not only helps children become acquainted with their numbers, it also teaches about common Australian animals that can be found in their backyards.
Each double page is alive with large images of Australian plants to be found in the north of Australia, plants with bold bright colours, edged in white, giving the impression of batik or crayon drawings, encouraging the reader to imagine they are there. The number written numerically and in letters, teaches the reader the difference between each way of denoting that number, and draws their eyes to find the number of animals displayed in the picture. Younger readers will get a thrill from finding the animals to make up the number and enjoy the counting out on each page, building up to the number ten. The book contains animals they will recognise whether they be in Broome or other parts of Australia, and will get a thrill at how the number ten is depicted.
The book begs the question of finding the animals in their own back yard, be it at school or at home, and will encourage younger readers to look outside and in the garden. This will be a glorious addition to the number of counting books available for younger readers and will find a home in all pre-school libraries.
Fran Knight