Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

For me, Mem Fox’s books are an uneven bunch. Some I love and some are just average or so-so. But I have to say that this one is a gem among them and one I’m happy to have come across. This simple book with rhyming text and Helen Oxenbury’s charming illustrations of children accomplishes plenty with an ease and an elegance that is just a pleasure to read.

The text is repeated sets of rhyming couplets: “There was one little baby who was born far away/and another who was born on the very next day. And both of these babies/as everyone knows/ had ten little fingers and ten little toes!” The first two lines change to describe other babies, but the two concluding lines remain consistent. It reads smoothly and bouncily, with plenty of page given for each line of text. The last bit changes, when the narrator introduces her own baby. Not only does that baby have ten little fingers and ten little toes, but also “three little kisses on the tip of its nose!” What a lovely little finish! This is great fun to read with youngsters and babies, especially if you can give them three kisses just like the baby in the book.

But honestly, the rhyme on its own probably wouldn’t have caught me if not for Helen Oxenbury’s adorable illustrations. This veteran of children’s illustration knows just the right touch to pair up with the text. There are very few illustrations with full backgrounds--most of the pictures focus on the baby characters. When there are occasional simple backgrounds or objects, these are mere props to the babies themselves. Oxenbury’s multicultural cast of babies adds an extra dimension to the rhyme without being preachy or clumsy with the presentation. She also has our cast of babies growing up slowly through each couplet. While the first has tiny babies that cannot crawl yet, by the end of the book, they are toddlers, walking and climbing and laughing delightedly as the narrator mother holds her own baby to give it three kisses. The simplicity of the images make it a good pick for a younger child, and the rhyming repetitive text are excellent for helping children predict what comes next.

I’ll be buying this book for all my new moms this year!

Happy Reading! ^_^ Shanshad


Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

• Accelerated Reading level : generic "1"
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (October 1, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 015206057X
• See-a-Sample