Lazy Lou Lou; Kind Katie by Susannah McFarlane and Lachlan Creagh

Little Mates (series). Scholastic, 2011.
Lazy Lou Lou ISBN 978 1 741698367 .
Kind Katie ISBN 978 1 741698356.
(Ages 3-5) Two more short stories in the Little Mates series, are offered for young children. Brightly coloured, a nice size for little hands to hold, with stories about Australian animals told simply and with a warm charm, these will be picked up by the early childhood centres, wanting a new range of books about Australian animals to win over their students.
Kind Katie, a koala in the Kimberley, wants to join the karate competition, but instead enters the karaoke competition, wearing her kimono. A prevalence of words beginning with the letter 'k' will have the listeners enthralled, as they guess at the range of words which could be used in the slight story.
Lazy Lou Lou, the laziest lizard in the world, finds she is in a position to save the little lizard from drowning and so decides to become the life saver. A preponderance of 'l' words will have students laughing as they and their teacher try to predict which 'l' words will be used as the page is turned.
The series is now half way through the alphabet, and I'm agog with anticipation about how the author will incorporate the x and the z.
Fran Knight