Young children and their adults will love Elizabeth Honey’s
latest offering, truly ‘an absolutely Australian counting book’, as its by-line
proclaims. With eye-catching illustrations – created by applying acrylic paint
to plastic stencils – and read-aloud rollicky text, the book is immediately
engaging. The endearing characters, ranging from blue wrens to potoroos to
kelpies, are captivating and simple, every page providing something distinct
and accessible to capture the child’s focus, and more detail to discover on
subsequent visits. Some pages, for example, have hidden characters to find,
such as the cats in the terrace houses and the lizards amongst the gum leaves.
Ten Blue Wrens
combines the familiar with the inventive, making it both entertaining and
educational, with plenty of opportunity for discussion between adult and child.
Each page is a colour-burst, with one or two lines of text, in rhyme and meter
that easily rolls off the tongue. The book engages all the senses: the splash
of water at the beach; the crowd roaring as a goal is scored at an Aussie rules
match; three relaxed Indigenous artists absorbed in their dot painting, sitting
on the red dirt, three dogs sprawled in various states of repose around them;
meat pies with ‘tomato saucey’ smiles; bottles of wattle; potoroos digging in
the moonlight; and a starburst of fireworks over Sydney harbour Bridge – to
name a few.
This delightfully Australian picture book, fresh, fun-filled
and imaginative, will enthral a young child with its simplicity and charm – one
to be pulled of the shelf time and again. Highly recommended.
Allen & Unwin 2011
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