Quickly slowly day by Martin Baynton and Rob Foote

Quickly slowly day is one of the Book Hungry Bears book collection from stories used in The Book Hungry Bears TV show. In this brightly coloured story the concept of the passage of time is explained to the very young. On each double page spread the little bear is involved in an activity that is slow and then fast. Scenes of events during a typical day for a toddler are show, for example catching a bus, going to the park, going shopping and playing at home. So the reader will see the bear slowly waking up in the morning, and then quickly jumping out of bed; the bears race quickly to the bus stop and go slowly into town; little bear slowly climbs the steps to the top of the slide and then quickly goes down the slide and so on. Finally it is bed time and the little bear has a story read slowly and then quickly falls asleep

The text is minimal, ‘Quickly make a big mess, Slowly clear it up’, and it reads aloud very well. The very engaging illustrations are rendered in soft water colours and I loved the happy expressions on the faces of the parent bear and little bear. The drawings complement the text and make the familiar scenes come alive, reenforcing the notion of time. Children will have fun doing some of the activities in the teacher's notes and the book would be a very useful addition to a childcare centre or home library.

Themes: Time, Passage of time.

Pat Pledger