posted on 25 Nov 2016

Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang

I'm guilty of losing track of which books are where in my house as the shelves groan with more and more. The upside of this is when I come across one that I had completely forgotten about and this is a good example. This counting picture book was one that my son loved back in the early 1980s and that I also used a lot in the nursery school where I worked at the time, in fact I'm pretty sure that it inspired a big dramatic multi media display in my classroom. 

Apparently this picture book was a runner up for the prestigious US Caldecott Medal in 1983 and the American illustrator has published many more that I have never heard of before. It was inspired by a poem she wrote when she was separated for a few days from her two year old daughter Monika whom she missed very much. She later decided to illustrate the poem with these rather beautiful pictures which I think covey a special tenderness. 

The charm of this quiet book lies in its simplicity. The rhymes and illustrations all centre around a little girl's bedtime routine. I love the use of white space with the sparse text on each left hand page which for me enhances its calming effect, almost like a lullaby. The colourful facing picture on each right hand page contrasts by bleeding fully to the edge. Every one focuses on an ordinary detail in her cosy bedroom that might be noticed by any young child. The first rhyme is about her own ten toes, perfect in their idiosyncrasy with some a little bit crooked. It is as if we are looking down at them from the child's perspective.

 

We then move out a little to include her toys with a real black cat curled at the centre. Moving out again we see two perfectly balanced windows with snow falling against the night sky. On the next page the cat has disappeared under her cot so that we can only see his back legs and tail. I can remember that this always provoked some conversation about where he was going and whether he might have the missing blue trainer in his mouth as we can only see 'seven empty shoes in a short straight row'. Then he is climbing up to look at a mobile made of sea shells - will he jump and what will happen if he does? Halfway through the perspective shifts and we are looking at the girl and her father. This next picture is probably my favourite with the little girl sitting on her smiling dads lap, the gorgeous detail of the rocking chair fabric against the patterned wallpaper, and yes the cat has indeed got the missing trainer as we can see in the right hand corner of the page.

And so it goes on counting backwards with its gentle rhythm until we get to the number one and her tucked into bed with her big fuzzy bear lying together on a warm red pillow beneath a densely coloured patchwork quilt. The final page shows her fast asleep framed as a cameo - no need for any more words because the bedtime poem has worked its magic.

Karen Argent

November 2016