Found in Sydney: A Counting Adventure by Joanne O’Callaghan and illustrated by Kori Song

Title: Found in Sydney: A Counting Adventure

Author: Joanne O’Callaghan and illustrated by Kori Song

Genre: Educational

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 10^th January 2023

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 36

Price: $24.99

Synopsis: From best-selling author Joanne O’Callaghan and talented illustrator Kori Song comes the delightful picture book Found in Sydney, filled to the brim with exciting landmarks for Sydneysiders and NSW locals to spot, as well as tourists.

This joyful counting book celebrates the wonders of multicultural Sydney, one of Australia’s most beautiful cities. From Bondi Beach to the Opera House, there’s so much to explore! What will you spot along the way?

A follow-up to the duo’s highly successful companion book. Found in Melbourne – which was shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Awards – Found in Sydney celebrates a multicultural friendship and will be available in two editions: English and Simplified Chinese translated by Kevin Yang. Mandarin and English audio readings will be available online and via a QR Code in the book.

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Sydney is one of the most famous cities in the world, a place where people live, work, and visit all the time. In the latest offering from Joanne O’Callaghan and Kori Song, readers can travel around Sydney to count to twelve, and then in larger numbers – the tiles on the Opera House, the number of giraffes in Taronga Zoo, and the ferries on the harbour, and people at Bondi Beach as well as the trees around the Blue Mountains. Each location is somewhere well-known to many and is filled with interesting facts and diversity – with a multicultural cast throughout, as it features the Chinese Friendship Gardens in Sydney, and illustrates how important multicultural links of all kinds can be in all cities between countries.

The words are simple, yet aimed at a preschool, early childhood, or early primary school-aged readership, as this is the audience most likely to be learning to read and count, and it is always fun to use places and things in their own worlds and that they can recognise as they read and explore the book at home or in class. I loved the illustrations and the words working together, bringing the city to life, and highlighting what Sydney is known for, as well as a few things that people may not know about when they first come to visit.

It’s also filled with a few fun facts that come into the counting – so adults have something for them as well and the illustrations can be used as a game as well – to see if you can spot and recognise as many Sydney landmarks as possible amongst the things that are being counted throughout the character’s journey throughout Sydney and its surrounds, which venture into the Blue Mountains with a scene around Katoomba and the Three Sisters. This is a fun book for all ages – as I think even older readers will get something enjoyable out of this one, and I love that we’re getting all different kinds of stories and books for all ages, and I hope people find this book enjoyable and educational. I read the English edition, but it is also being translated into Simplified Chinese and audio versions in English and Mandarin will be available online or by scanning the QR Code.