Where is the green sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek

The 20th anniversary edition of Where is the green sheep? is sure to be a big hit with young children who have not yet encountered it. It will bring  back fond memories for parents and grandparents who first read and loved it 20 years ago.

This edition is very handsome with a beautiful eye-catching gold embossed cover. Turning the pages, the reader will meet a blue sheep, a red sheep turning cartwheels, a bath sheep and a bed sheep, but where is the green sheep? The book carries on in this vein until finally the green sheep is found. With the use of rhyme, rhythm and repetition, the narrative by Fox flows beautifully and young children will learn about colours, opposites and alliteration along the way. The illustrations by Judy Horacek are delightful and complement the text with their bright colours and the wonderful expressions on the faces of the sheep.

This deservedly won the Children's Book Council of Australia Award for Book of the Year: Early Childhood in 2005 and is sure to remain a favourite gift to buy babies in the future. The repetition, clear black print and matching pictures would make this an excellent book for young children to use as a beginning reader, easing the way to predicting the text.

A firm favourite in many households, Where is the green sheep? is a book to treasure and to hand down to the next generation.

Themes: Sheep, Colours, Repetition, Read aloud.

Pat Pledger