By Susan Steggall, Frances Lincoln, paperback (6.99).
Follow the red bus along the road as it is joined by a red car, a yellow car, a yellow van, an orange van ... and soon the road is filled with a sequence of cars, trucks and buses.
This deceptively simple picture book offers young children so much more than an introduction to the concepts of pattern. Within its steadily unfolding street scenes is the story of a mother and her son who miss the bus and are then helped by a kind-hearted stranger, while the man running for the bus at the end opens up a fresh new narrative. Within the (collage) illustrations are interesting and fun explorations of shape, texture, numbers and letters, while the text presents a tongue-twisting read.
