One Prickly Porcupine

Joan Weller is Head Librarian at the West Branch of the Ottawa Public
Library.

Here is a many-layered picture book for preschoolers. On the surface it
teaches children to count from 1 to 20. Add the text and readers are
given a wonderful bonus. In liltingly rhythmic phrases it offers
vocabulary sparkling with alliteration, from “one prickly porcupine
peeking past a hair” to “twenty little lightning bugs lighting up a
cake.” At this point older readers may want to test their reading
skills. Add the illustrations and readers are in for a visual treat.
Plasticine artwork in brilliant colors, attractively framed on the
book’s glossy white paper, depicts a menagerie of furry animals and
funny bugs cavorting over a large human being. Together the learning and
the looking combine to make a humorous adventure that provides a
surprise ending with the turning of the last page. Here youngsters and
adults reading the book aloud discover, in a delicious double-page
spread, “one grinning gleeful giant with lots to celebrate.” A
highly recommended companion book to Apples, Alligators and Also
Alphabets, by the same author-illustrator team.