Find Spot: An Australian adventure by Eric Carle

Eric Hill died in 2014, but many books are still being published which showcase his wonderful character, Spot.

This story, presented in a heavy duty board book shows the Spot family on a camping holiday in Australia’s outback. They paddle a canoe across the billabong, noting the colour of the surroundings. They stop for lunch on the shore and Spot finds some frogs under the bulrushes. After lunch mum and dad look for Spot but cannot find him and so go off in search of their son. They spy something moving further up the sand dunes and come across a thorny devil while sleeping under a rock. They see a bilby. A termite mound looms up over the page hiding an echidna. Coming to a cave they wonder whether Spot has gone inside. Each time they stop to look for Spot they see another Australian animal hidden beneath a flap. Kids will love lifting the flap to reveal the animal, and of course wonder where Spot might be. Eventually they return to the camping ground to find Spot waiting for them.

Gently humorous, with a touch of concern about where Spot might be, toddlers will love looking for Spot with his parents, lifting the flaps in their search of the Australian landscape, taking in the colours, the animals and flora depicted. New words are presented, an adventure which is out of the ordinary, all couched within the known and loved framework of Spot.

Younger readers will love the scope of this little colourful board book, marvelling at a new edition of Spot, harking back to all the other Spot books they have read.

Themes: Lift the flap, Spot, Australian animals, Adventure.

Fran Knight