Review: Animal 123

Animal 123

Written and Illustrated by David Wojtowycz

Publication date: 2000
Publisher: David & Charles Children's Books
ISBN: 1-86233-152-9

Summary/Back cover: 
Check into the Animal 123 hotel where behind each of the ten doors the zany animal guests are involved in crazy goings-on!
Look in on the two tangoing toucans or sneak a peek at the six sleep-walking skunks.  Oh, and don't forget to look out for the mice... This is the fun way of learning to count to ten!

Review:
I grabbed this book from the library, purely because it's by David Wojtowycz (illustrator of Commotion in the Ocean, The Lion Who Wanted to Love, and Farmyard Hullabaloo, amongst others) - and the illustrations don't disappoint at all.  Beautiful bright pictures of some funny animals (although my 2.5 year old didn't believe us that the sheep were actually sheep, as they were all dressed up in lounge-singer costumes!). The text of the book is not a story as such, but a title for the animals on each page:  "Three thirsty flamingos" for example, is all the text on the page with three thirsty flamingos (funnily enough...).

In saying that, it's a great book for your learner counter.  We spent a lot of time counting how many animals were on each page, and then read the book backwards as well (we're just learning how to count from ten down to one).  It's not a bedtime story, but it is a good learning tool.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Review written by Bronwyn