One Cheetah, One Cherry: A Book of Beautiful Numbers by Jackie Morris
| One Cheetah, One Cherry: A Book of Beautiful Numbers by Jackie Morris | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A playful counting book with exquisite pictures. It's the stuff of which heirlooms are made. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: September 2016 |
| Publisher: Otter-Barry Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1910959282 | |
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Once you've seen anything illustrated by Jackie Morris you know that you'll get a book full of pictures, all of which you'd be delighted and proud to hang on your walls. One, Cheetah, One Cherry: A Book of Beautiful Numbers is no exception. We begin with just the one cherry, so red and shiny you are tempted to see if it's real, but you're put off by the next picture. The one cherry is joined by one cheetah and he's got a proprietorial paw resting across the shoulder of the cherry. You're not going to argue with him.
Then it's two dogs with two balls. They're hunting dogs of the type which you usually see in medieval paintings, complete with decorative jackets. The dog closest to the larger ball has a protective paw on the top of it and a look in his eye which suggests that he's not to be messed with. The other dog hasn't made his mind up yet, but he's probably not going to risk anything. Three bears (yes, they really could be Mummy Bear, Daddy Bear and Baby Bear) eat what could well be porridge using silver spoons. They're obviously a superior sort of bear.
Four fine foxes share strawberries (lovely alliteration) in a picture which almost has an arts and crafts feel to it as two foxes face each other, with paws on the same strawberry - there are only three, you see. There are five elephants and they walk nose to tail, all but one draped in elegant regalia. I'm a sucker for elephants, but I'll confess that it was the six bright tigers who caught my imagination: three pairs of tigers all playing pat-a-cake is a picture not to be missed! Just look at how their tails entwine comfortably as they play. Seven giant pandas have pretty painted parasols (more of that lovely alliteration!) - they look like middle-aged ladies gently passing the time (and the heat) of the day.
Eight clever otters juggle with small stones: one wears a rather smart hat, but another dons something old and rather comfy. Nine white mice are drinking tea from china tea cups which is being ladled from a big tea pot. Look at the different ways that they hold the cups: they're obviously comfortable with each other. Then we have ten cherries and still just the one cheetah. I'll let you guess what happens next!
They're gorgeous pictures, full of small details which you pick up on a second or third reading. The detail is exquisite and the wording is playful and easy to read aloud. The book's elegant, but fun and there's plenty to discuss in the pictures. I've just one quibble and that's about the scale of the cherries in comparison to the cheetah or the strawberries and the foxes, but that's me being Mistress Picky again - I very much doubt that children in the target age group are going to notice or worry!
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
For another out-of-the-ordinary approach to numbers we can recommend The Number Garden by Sara Pinto. Jackie Morris also illustrated Lord of the Forest by Caroline Pitcher.
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You can read more book reviews or buy One Cheetah, One Cherry: A Book of Beautiful Numbers by Jackie Morris at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy One Cheetah, One Cherry: A Book of Beautiful Numbers by Jackie Morris at Amazon.com.
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Jackie Morris said:
The thing is, people assume that the cherries are big. But actually they are faery cheetahs. It's a tiny cheetah and a normal-sized cherry.
Same with the foxes. I have a long tradition of strawberry foxes which began the day I went to our local farm shop to buy some of their oh so sweet strawberries, only to find that the foxes had got there first. I think they had had a strawberry tea party in the moonlight. I was talking to a friend about this. She said her son believed in faeries, but not in foxes, because he had never seen a fox. Lines like that are gifts to storytellers. Faery foxes were born. Oh, and the dogs are sisters, Belle and Ivy. Ivy lives with me. They are both beautiful.
Tigers often play pat-a-cake, but only when no one is watching.
Thank you so much for the wonderful review. I need to do more books with numbers.
