Jane Godwin (text) and Andrew Joyner (illustrator), All the Words I Need to Know, Penguin Random House Australia, July 2022, 40 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760897277
Oh, this was fun! Explore words from A to Z with Big and Little Owl in this delightful book, as they go through the alphabet.
On each page, the owls show young readers the letters of the alphabet, and words that begin with that letter. The illustrations are full of colourful energy and expressive charm that should appeal to fans of the Little Wombat books by Charles Fuge, and had me smiling at every page as I fell in love with Big Owl and Little Owl and their antics. Each alphabet word is clearly linked to an illustrated image, and the additional speech bubbles add another level of fun with ‘bonus’ alphabet words that young readers can pick out.
The text has a well chosen range of words appropriate to a 3-6 age level, with the additional pieces of simple speech, set out to give plenty of visual energy without leaving the page feeling overcluttered or confusing.
This is the perfect book for young pre schoolers and Preps who are starting to get a handle on reading and writing, and learning to identify their letters. The potential is enormous for turning this book into a fun game with young readers to see how many of each letter they can find, and I wish it had been around when my boys were starting to learn to read.
Reviewed by Emily Clarke
