I love my ABC and I love my 123 by Anna Walker
Scholastic, 2012.
ISBN: 9781742831510 (I love my ABC)
ISBN: 9781742831527 (I love my 123)
These sturdy board books make the perfect introduction to the world
of Ollie, the zebra, who is the hero of many books by Anna Walker.
These simple books, with vibrant colours and cheerful illustrations,
are a lovely way to introduce literacy and numeracy to the under
2's.
In I love my ABC, Walker presents Ollie walking through the
pages, with each page featuring both upper and lower case letters,
and Ollie interacting with something beginning with that letter. The
selections are simple and predictable, with the usual minor quibbles
of some of the letters not lining up with their phonemic friends (i
for ice cream, x for xylophone). The text encourages interaction
between the reader and the readee - identifying pictures and naming
letters and sounds.
In I love my 123, Walker again uses Ollie to introduce
concepts of 1 to 1 correspondence. Ollie walks from 1 to 10, with
each page featuring the allocated number of objects, the numeral,
and the text for the noun group. The white pages really allow the
rich colours to soar, and the grey text supports this.
At the end of the story, Ollie is shown frollicking in the garden,
with all the objects from the story, which is a lovely touch.
Babies and toddlers will delight in Ollie's adventures, and learning
to count is a bonus!
Freya Lucas