I cannot think of a better early book for young children than Matt Buckingham’s Peek-a-boo Penguins (Little Tiger Press). It is such a rich source of educational value. The children will experience handling the book, turning its pages, touching the soft penguin bodies and counting the penguin friends, as well as looking carefully to see where the penguins are hiding on each page.

The following activities demonstrate how many different areas of the curriculum can be covered in just one book. Far more important than the stories they tell, books give information, promote language development, rouse emotions and social awareness and stimulate the children’s imagination for creative ideas and role play. They are the starting-points for problem solving and understanding the world we live in.

The story

This wonderfully simple story is about a game of hide-and-seek. Penguin’s friends find numerous ways of hiding among the ‘local’ animals. The animals can’t help Penguin find his friends because they are also joining in with the game. What a surprise there is on the last page when all the penguin friends are found hiding in a very unusual place!