1. Alliteration
2. Board books
3. Bush tucker
4. Counting
5. Food

Counting to 10 and identifying scrumptious-looking bush foods feature in this highly appealing board book for the very young. Each double page features a bush food introduced with alliteration and rhythmically chosen phrasing. Together these engage the very young in some tongue twisters while counting, meeting engaging characters and savouring delicious-looking bush foods.

Two youngsters uncover an Aboriginal food on each of the 10 double-page spreads. While some of the foods are well known, such as witchetty grubs, others such as crunchy conkerberries may not be familiar. Despite this being such a short book, there is plenty to discover for each food, for example, their appearance accompanied by a very clever alliterative phrase enticing the taste buds. Each number is coloured to resemble the food’s colour. The descriptive words offer an early learning activity featuring alliteration. For example, ‘Six prickly pandanus fruit peeking through leaves’ or ‘Nine yellow yams deep down in the soil.’

Maureen Glover is descended from the Bundjalung people of northern NSW and has worked in education for many years. Gabrielle Fry grew up in communities across the Northern Territory. She is descended from the Dagoman people in Katherine.

1. Reading Time 16 Oct 2023 review by Jennifer Mors of ‘Bush Tucker Counting’ https://readingtime.com.au/bush-tucker-counting/
2. Magabala Books website brief biographical details of author and illustrator https://magabala.com.au/products/bush-tucker-counting
3. Tucker Bush, Edible Australian Tucker Bush https://tuckerbush.com.au/
4. We Have Kids 18 April 2024 ‘Ten Classic Board Books Every Kid Will Love’ https://wehavekids.com/parenting/best-board-books