First Numbers

First Numbers by Jess Racklyeft (Affirm Press) HB Board Book RRP $14.95 ISBN 9781923135468

Here is a concept rhyming board book for babies and toddlers, the format of which is larger than most board books. Its focus is on Australian flora and fauna, and it is beautifully designed, drawn, and coloured.

After the first impressive fly pages of butterflies against a background of leaves, the text begins: ‘Let’s count through this country… there is so much to see! Can you count the turtles or the fish in the sea?’ It then proceeds with a hairy wombat (‘let’s start our count with one’) followed by two snakes in a tangle, and three bats having fun.

There are four birds (which include a buff-breasted kingfisher, a scarlet honeyeater, a sulphur-crested cockatoo, and an Australian ringneck), then five different types of frogs, six marsupials, seven kinds of insects, and so on until finally the reader is invited to spot ten types of sea life. All the insects and animals are named alongside coloured pictures of the subjects.

At the end of the book, the child (if old enough) can follow the strips of insects and animals by counting backward from ten to one. The final double-page spread shows Uluru and some bouncing kangaroos, with the final words, ‘…remember – there’s only ONE of you!)