Over in Australia: Amazing Animals Down Under Paperback – Picture Book, March 1, 2011

This is hands down one of my favourite books. I'm an aussie expat living in the USA so I am always on the look out for books about Australia to teach my kids. Not only is this a great book about native Australian animals (if you're not from Australia, there are a few you probably haven't heard of before).What I love in a nutshell:-teaches counting from the number one to ten in ascending order. This is very useful for new learners.-artwork is engaging! The illustrator notes that she each page is a collage she created with mixed media so theres tonnes to look at on each page-the rhyme for each number/animal is fun! You can really animate your voice just by reading!-the stories/rhymes are about a mother animal and her babies but there is also a fun daddy emu rhyme!-EXTRA LEARNING SUGGESTIONS at the end of the book. There are at least 10 pages after the 'story' that are like the bonus features on a dvd. There's a hunt to go back through the book & find hidden animals, find the number of animals on a map of Australia (this page includes a key showing desert, grassland, forest & actually has the animals situated on the map where they naturally live), there's various facts, information about other Australian animals & the animals in the story, tips from the author on how to use the book & concepts in it for extended play (such as dramatic play, arts & crafts, math, verbs/nouns, discussion, environmental studies, websites to other activities & information, links & suggestions for other books) and then there's a page written by the illustrator where she details how she made each page using collage (she also suggests various art activities on how to achieve similar results & activities that would be fun for kids)-the author also asks you to contact her with your thoughts whether as a teacher or a parent which is super awesome, I think this demonstrates how much she cares about what she does and who she does it for!All in all I think this is an incredible book that is great for parents and teachers alike. I personally love reading it to my children, it really doesn't get old. Would highly recommend this book!

I bought this book because I wanted a book about bilbies from Australia which is hard to find, and ended up loving the book as a whole. Each set of 2 pages are a different Australian animal, from 1 to 10. Some of these animals I didn't know or didn't know much about so I liked that introduction to them. PLUS, there is a section in the back that gives a short paragraph on each of those animals. When you get to the end of the book, you are told there is a twist on each of the pages, so you want to go back and read it again. It may be a kids' book, but I learned a lot.

So great learning about Australia and its animals by counting to 10 to over in the meadow! Great learning series! 2 1/2 year old grandson loves this series!

I liked this combination of a counting book, learning about Australian animals book, and finding hidden animals book. The hiddne animals essentially double the number of Australian animals included in the book to twenty. I did find it odd that none of the animals included were the kangaroo, but a wallaby is close enough I suppose. My only complaints are that some of the hidden animals were not clear enough to see... and some of the colors even on the main animals were not distinct enough from the background colors. The book just needed more color contrast on some pages. On some pages, all the babies have their tongues out at the same time which is a bit too much.

This was a great interactive book for my 3 yr old. She had fun going back to find the other hidden animals. Although I like the art personally, I was a bit hard for her to spot many of the animals due to the art style.

I purchased this title because I enjoyed the author’s original work, Over In the Meadow so much. This Australian version was just as rhythmic and enjoyable! There are plenty of early learning opportunities woven throughout the book, from counting 1-10, to the informative pages in the back of the book. Makes a perfect addition to geography studies for littles!

I like that this book will “grow” with my grandson. It has basic info and illustrations but also has higher level reading at the end and games to play as well as songs.

This book is a good book to inspire curiosity and teach children about animals and other places. I recommend this book.