One, Two, Tree!

by Anushka Ravishankar, Sirish Rao, Durga Bai (Artist)

One, Two, Tree! pairs the sophistication of an art book for children with the accessibility of a read-aloud nursery rhyme. This paperback edition with French flaps features brilliant original art by Durga Bai, a Gond tribal woman artist from central India most well-known for her work in the handmade book, The Night Life of Trees . Together the playful images and verse bring to life this vivacious and colorful tree of animals. From the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India, the Gonds are a community of highly visual people. They surround themselves with their stunning art, which is traditionally painted on the mud floors and walls of their homes. Hailing from a densely forested region, the tree is at the heart of their art, providing a rich source of inspiration. One, Two, Tree! is a unique and accessible way of introducing even very young children to this exceptional art form.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Counting, Animals, Fiction

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Anushka Ravishankar, a mathematics graduate, has made a name for herself internationally as an Indian children’s writer, with over 10 books of verse, fiction and non-fiction. Her special talent is in the area of nonsense verse, where she brilliantly adapts this difficult genre to Indian English usage, without a false note. Anushka Ravishankar can be said to have pioneered the Indian English nonsense verse form and brought it to international attention. She recently returned from a UK tour with Children’s Laureate, Michael Rosen, at the Children’s Bookshow.

from http://www.tarabooks.com/about/authors/

Reviews

[Jessa McCauley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange descriptor choices for the animals and no explanation (no matter how improbable) for all of them being up a tree.

[Bobby · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a simple children’s book about numbers, this book is full of a ton of learning opportunities that go beyond counting…all done in rich, vivid, Central Indian tribal artwork. The basic premise is that a number of animals (in the broad sense of the word since it includes insects) take turns climbing up a tree. The book’s text makes it ideal to read it out loud, numbers are written out as well as given in numerical forms, and alternating colors are used to separate various quantities. In addition to the beautiful stylized animals, kids get to learn vocabulary as all the animals are described differently, e.g., the ant is dizzy, the elephants are hefty, and so on. Another bonus is that the last page with the tree full of animals can be used as a game for kids to find various animals they’ve just learned about. An excellent addition to a home library for kindergarten age kids.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Durga Bai draws from the Gond tradition of painting to illustrate in bright and warm colors a tree increasingly crowded with creatures. Told in rhyme, One, Two, Tree! is a counting and vocabulary book with each count accompanying a playful sentence. There are great adjectives and verbs to try out.

Most personal libraries have at least one or two books of this sort: who doesn’t have (or never had) Dr. Seuss’ counting books–raise your hands? Ravishankar’s book is charming, and beautiful way to diversify a child’s picture book collection.

L (omphaloskepsis)
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[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

My five-year-old son picked this book out from the library this week.

The best things about this book are the title and the cover art.

The text is not only uninspired, it is at some times downright weird. And the same goes for the illustrations. The four-legged ant resembles a spider; the short-eared rabbits could easily be cats; and the dogs were scary. My son was confused by the illustrations, and bored by the text.

[sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

having a hard time finding this book illustrated by Durga Bai, a woman from a tribal community of women who paint beautiful things on the the walls of their homes... cross-class Indian childrens' books! Hooray!

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

so ornate and simple at the same time...

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is stunning. It is a counting book that displays numbers in both numerical form and written out. The art is wonderful and the objects counted are quite interesting.