Counting in the Sea 123!

Counting in the Sea 123! features a little mermaid hiding near various numbers of underwater animals. She meets everything from an octopus to dolphins and starfish. Hendra’s bold, collage-style images are highly attractive for younger readers. The use of two dimensional colour planes ensures high contrasts between the images and the gently graded blue background. Producing a find-the-character book à la Where’s Wally? is a novel way in which to try to teach numbers to toddlers. My feeling is that the game of finding the mermaid will draw attention away from learning about numbers. But given that much learning in this age bracket is done via passive information processing, Counting in the Sea 123! may well be as good at teaching numeracy as any other toddler numbers-based book.