The Great Kiwi 1 2 3 Book product reviews

I absolutely love Donovan Bixley's work and have purchased several of his previous books for my daughter including his versions of Old McDonald's Farm, The wheels on the Bus, and most recently we got ourselves a copy of his latest Christmas book. When I saw another book available for review 'The Great Kiwi 123 Book' I took the chance to be chosen to review it and luckily I was able to do so. Working in a daycare centre predominately with children under 2 years of age this book looked perfect, with only a few words per page making a great way for teaching them early numeracy skills.

When I arrived home with the book Miss 5 was beyond excited she straight away recognized the book was written and illustrated by Donovan Bixley and was rapped to have a new book to add to her collection of his. I hadn't really thought about the fact that this book would also be a great teaching aid for her upon requesting but it proved to be very valuable for her indeed, as she has just started school and is currently learning how to write and identify numbers, she was very proud of herself when she was able to tell me the numbers on the front cover were 1, 2, 3. Miss 5 can usually count from 1 to 10 no problem but struggles at times to get past this point, however with this book she has been doing amazing, the book goes from 1 to 20 and she has been enjoying extending her counting ability in such a fun way, and I can report that within 2 weeks of having this book as a guide she can now reach 20 all on her own.

With the beautiful, bright, quirky, fun illustrations that you expect from Donovan Bixley this book has been a lot of fun to read to the children I teach, with many of the illustrations being objects which they can relate to themselves as they are of familiar objects for example the baby lambs, the butterflies and the cupcakes, to name some of the many things which they love to point out and identify. Best of all all of the illustrations in the book are based on that of Kiwiana so you will always find something new to see on each and every page which fits into the theme in one way or another whether it be an All Blacks lamb or a penguin eating hokey pokey ice cream! There is also a little snail hidden on each page to be found which makes for a bit of a fun game.

As a teacher I found this book great not only was it the perfect book in regards to length and words for the children I teach meaning that they could sit and listen to the entire story without getting bored but also as it featured the words in Te Reo Maori as well as English. Te Reo is something I do struggle with but having a book such as this gives me so much more confidence in speaking it as having a guide means i'm less likely to make a mistake! This has been a great tool for my learning.

This book is without a doubt a 10/10 from me a great book for children of all ages that is in both English and Te Reo and one that is sure to be loved by all due to it's beautiful bright images with lot's of fun hidden amongst them. I can't wait to see what Donovan Bixley brings out next, i'm sure what ever it is it'll be added to my collection.