Where's my jumper? by Nicola Slater

Simon and Schuster, 2017. ISBN 9781471146213
(Ages: 2-5) Counting. This fun and humorous book with cut-outs and flaps counts backwards from 10. It features bold text with number words in capital letters and retro illustrations of orange, yellow, blue, pink, red and green. We see Rudy on the front cover, a bright blue rabbit holding an empty coat hanger and asking 'Where's my jumper?'. So, off we go, hunting around Rudy's house for his favourite jumper that was 'a little bit short and showed his tummy'. In each room he encounters a group of animals, from ten tumbling cats to two passing foxes. This isn't your average counting book with 'five kangaroos bouncing, four leaping lizards' though and it doesn't carry a repetitive or predictable pattern like most other counting books either. There are fancy-pants llamas jiving under a disco ball, prima pigerinas pirouetting in the kitchen and dogs riding ski lifts up the stairs. There are humorous and crazy illustrations that children will appreciate (a cat wearing jocks, an octopus taking a selfie in the pool, a shark in the swimming pool and a crocodile on the toilet). Children will enjoy following the trail of wool, opening the flaps and exploring the cut-through pages. The ending is actually a little bit confusing, especially for the younger end of the target age group: his youngest sister has taken his jumper but the trail of wool he was following was being knitted into a new jumper for him. It is great that there is nothing predictable about this book and that children need to discover for themselves where there are flaps and to follow the wool trail. It will be enjoyed by children as young as two for its rollicking rhythm and bright illustrations but those of preschool and school-age will get a lot more out of it and be more engaged.
Nicole Nelson