Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
123 Counting Fun
Novelty Board Book
For ages 3 to 5
Tiger Tales, 2014 ISBN: 978-1589255913
Learning can be a chore. It can be a bore. Or, if you are very lucky, it can be fun. When they open this colorful novelty board book, children will quickly get interested in what they are seeing on the page. On every spread there is a photo of a character or thing (or several characters or things) that children like and can easily identify. These include lambs, toys cars, kittens and stuffed animals. A short piece of text with a large number accompanies the photos , and each spread has a textured surface to touch. The text from page one rhymes with the text on page two and so one, which carries the narrative forward.
For example on the first spread we see “One toy elephant walking with a thud.” The elephant is a little toy made of blue plush fabric and we can stroke its side to feel how soft it is. On the next spread we see “Two yellow boots splashing in the mud” and there they are, yellow boots walking across the page. The top of one of the boots is slick and shiny, just like the surface of a real boot.
After they get to “Ten yellow sunflowers swaying in the breeze,” children can turn the page and they will find a spread showing all the things that they have counted on the previous pages. They are invited to “count from 1 to 10. Can you count them all again?”
