The OO in Uluru: A fun phoneme story by Judith Barker. Illus. Ill. by Janie Frith

One in a series of books which are made to use in a classroom or with kids at home, these promote the parts of our language which seem at odds. A phoneme is the smallest group of letters which make up a sound. There are 44 in the English language.

This series of books takes one of these sounds and shows kids through a funny story the use of that sound and the words it is part of.

So with OO in Uluru, kids will initially notice the the 'oo' sound is written as a 'u' in the word, Uluru. The opening page tells readers of the different letters often used to make thst sound 'oo'. So we have 'you' and 'shoe', 'chew' and 'two', and over the page children will find that the story of a family camping at Uluru is full of the 'oo' sound, but not necessarily written as 'oo'.

They will love looking at the different words using the 'oo' sound but written differently, and search their brains for more examples to offer. As they turn each page too, they will see that the words with the 'oo' sound are presented in a different font, making it easier for younger readers to spot the different words. On each page are illustrations of various Australian animals seen in the Red Centre near Uluru. The Anangu people watch over Uluru, and one person plays the didjeridoo.

The illustrations take the reader to the centre of Australia with its familiar landscapes, flora and fauna and inhabitants.

Others in the series, include, The O in the snow, The EE in the deep blue sea, and The I in the island.

The OO in Uluru was awarded first prize by the Speech Pathology Australia organisation in 2019.

Themes: Phonemes, English language, Uluru, Australian animals.

Fran Knight