A counting book: take 2

I got out of the shower this morning and heard noises from the bedroom. "Banana... banana... BANANA!!!", Ian was reading BANANA! to Benji who had planted himself in the middle of the following (clockwise from top left corner):

1. The 12 Days of Christmas

2. Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo

3. BANANA!

4. Spot Visits his Grandparents

5. Who Sank the Boat?

6. Grandpa and Thomas and the Green Umbrella

7. Spot Goes on Holiday

The two 'books' in the foreground are a sticker book and a colouring book and despite protestations, they are not for reading. Minutes later we were out the door and off to work/childcare.

This evening Benji chose Spot Goes on Holiday (it's wearing a bit thin B). I chose some newbies, Sometimes... and The Waterhole. Benji got Sometimes... for his 1st birthday and it is a sweet book, particularly the wonderful illustrations which look like lino cuts mixed with collage. It serves perfectly as a bedtime story with its short and simple storyline being a mum elephant telling her baby that she loves him whether he's happy or sad, good or bad, scared or brave, not knowing how to behave, dirty or clean, kind or mean. Wow now that I look through this book again, the illustrations are amazing. Wonder if they come in framed prints? I had a flashback to The Elephant and the Bad Baby while I was reading this book - that is definitely one to go in search for an add to Benji's bookshelf.

Next up was The Waterhole by Graeme Base which was given to Benji by none other than Katy the Children's Librarian. It's a counting book - 1 through to 10 - of animals who visit a waterhole to drink. The illustrations are also amazing yet completely different to Sometimes...'s in that they're really intricate and full of hidden surprises such as other animals and a gang of frogs. Benji loves the frogs and calls out "Frogs! Frogs!" as we turn each page.

But I get really sad when I read this book because as it progresses the water in the hole dwindles. By the last page, which shows 10 sad kangaroos standing around a dry waterhole, I am heartbroken. And that poor little frog with his suitcase in the bottom corner who turns his back on the waterhole... what will become of him?

Sometimes... is by Emma Dodd

The Waterhole is by Graeme Base