Ten Spooky Skeletons

Ten Spooky Skeletons

By Garry Parsons
Published by Caterpillar Books

It's nearly that spooky time of year again and if looking for some creepy books for your little ghouls, then check out this counting hardback, Ten Spooky Skeletons. It's a peek-through picture book with lots of bone shaking skeletons and a fun glow in the dark front cover as well as a glowing surprise at the end.

We join the skeletons as they go searching for some skelly friends. From playing pirates to circus antics, and even magic tricks, children will enjoy seeing what these silly skeletons get up to.

There are die-cut holes on each page to develop and continue the counting story. The holes are all different sizes and not always easy to spot, which is great as children will love trying to spot them first. I read this to Aoife as she always enjoys books with die-cut holes in and likes to feel the page looking for them and poking her little fingers through them.

Ten Spooky Skeletons is fun and flows well when reading out loud. Great for Halloween or reading at bedtime and seeing the glow in the dark skeletons. I find the skeletons rather cute and don't think they'd be too scary for your little ghosties.

Join the fun and count along with these comical skeletons and enjoy the super-spooky fright at the end! Ten Spooky Skeletons is available in all good bookshops and online here.

How Many Legs?

How Many Legs?

By Katja Spitzer
Published by Flying Eye Books

I love this beautiful little counting book. It has this gorgeous retro feel and reminds me of the smaller books I used to read when I was a child. As always, Flying Eye Books have presented this new title as a lovely small hardback, and it simply feels like a piece of art.

How Many Legs? is the perfect introduction of numbers to young children. The book is made up of two parts; the first part teaches the reader to count up to ten. This is done graphically, using bold numbers and Katja's retro style illustrations. You'll find 1 Unicorn, 3 ice creams, 6 robots and 8 legs (attached to a stylish looking spider in his web). 

The second part of the book carries on to encourage the reader to flex their new found counting abilities and answer how many cowboys or How many scary Monsters? An inventive choice to help children learn in an entertaining way.

Katja's illustrations are reminiscent of the type of illustrations I grew up with, with a use of a limited colour palette which makes this little book retro chic! Even the pages have a vintage feel to them, and the layout of the text and illustrations just brings old memories flooding back. 

This is surely the perfect addition to any future budding mathematicians out there, and an absolute joy to flick through time and time again. How Many Legs? Is out this August, for more information visit the Flying Eye Books website.

Guinea Pig Party

Guinea Pig Party

By Holly Surplice
Published by Nosy Crow

"Count from ten and back again!"

I’m quite familiar with Holly Surplice’s illustrations and I especially adore her drawings of guinea pigs!

The Guinea Pig Party is no exception; a counting down hard back filled with such adorable cute little guinea pigs taking part in birthday party fun, though not everything goes to plan (as is often the case)! And as with all birthday parties the guinea pigs are a naughty bunch and even play pin the tail on the guinea pig!

This lovely pre-schooler book is a great way to introduce numbers and counting down from 10 to 1. It includes simple rhyming with each page spread ending with..and then there were… allowing children to know there is to be a new number or to guess themselves. I can also imagine children will have fun recognising the party antics within this cute little book.

Holly's illustrations are beautifully rendered in ink and watercolour, making the guinea pigs antics stand out on the plain white backgrounds. The typography flows on every page, with the number standing out in it's own stripey colour so a child can easily spot it.



This would even make a great gift for little ones who have their own guinea pigs… though hopefully Aoife won’t want a guinea pig of her own any time soon, we already have mischief from our two naughty little rabbits!

Guinea Pig Party is available to buy in bookshops and on the Nosy Crow website.