"Debra expands her concept of numbers and learns that she is number one for her Mama."
January 2025 Book of the Month
Debra the Zebra is possibly the cutest zebra you will ever see, with her huge inquisitive eyes and cheeky grin. Her stripes are set off beautifully against a vivid African savannah landscape brought to life by award-winning illustrator Nila Aye.
Smriti Halls once again demonstrates her fluency in rhyming picturebook texts that are simply a joy to read aloud. Debra, like any small child will be, is so proud of herself for learning to count and she gleefully demonstrates her skill by counting from one – the sun - all the way through to ten blades of grass. She asks her friend Ostrich for a counting task, but discovers she needs more than ten and she has no idea what comes next, and she knows her friend’s suggestions are just not right!
Luckily Mama is at hand and off they go merrily counting everything in sight. ‘Numbers were perfect, they grew and they grew.’ But when Mama sends her off to play with the herd and their millions of stripes she wonders if she will ever be found? But the reassuring message is that she is Mama’s number one and will always be found. Her ‘one in a million’.
Utterly charming and comforting, this is a lovely book to share. Not only will young readers enjoy counting as they go through and be inspired to have lots of useful conversations about number, they get a reassuring boost to their self-esteem.
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