In Deegan's series of two, Bloomsbury has decided to find a middle ground. Because these books lend themselves to the large format that they are in, and are suitable for toddlers, the books are published with extra thick pages. They can be torn. But accidental tear-age will be negligible. On top of that, at £7.99, they are not charging the earth for this hardback privilege.
"And the content?" you may ask. It isn't bad for counting and opposites. First of the counting book is counting down from ten not up from one. That is unique. For those little ones who are mad about rocket ships and the like, counting down will already be familiar.
The drawings in both these books feature a baby surrounded by bright and bold colours and objects. The numbers range from large to enormous. Each number is depicted by a toy or a game or a book. Although the child seems to be playing very nicely, one stands for "one big mess". That is all the mother sees. How could she have expected anymore from this baby?
Opposites adds no other text than the words "quiet", "loud", "up", "down". It is real baby stuff. But the pictures actually carry it off very nicely. It is a relief to see drawings, however clean the lines, to photographic ones on the same topic. "Bright" and "dark" are my favourite contrasts with sun and moon included. Second to that is "asleep" and "awake" where the first word is wishful thinking and the second the reality.
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