I can count by Sally Morgan. Illus. by Jingalu

This wonderfully bright board book will capture the attention of young eyes, glueing them to the colours and animals on every page. Counting from one to ten starts with a child asking the reader to see how well they will go. One is the sun, a red orb in the sky. The simple line creates an image of the sun, its colour and its position. Next we see number two and a pair of coral clouds waft across the sun. Then we see three purple frogs, four pink snakes, five lime birds, six blue dragonflies, seven peach butterflies, eight yellow possums, nine orange owls and ten green stars. Each double page offers a line of text with a stunning illustration with the appropriate number of animals featured in the text. Aboriginal motifs: dots, circles, repetition and long swathes of colour decorate each page. Young children will love learning the numbers from one to ten, this little easily held book giving them a head start as they inhale the illustrations and note the links to the descriptive words.

This is a lovely introduction for younger readers with an older person to read it with them, at least for the first run through.

Themes: Aboriginal themes, Counting, Australian animals.

Fran Knight