2024
Anna is going to spend the summer holiday at her Grandmother’s house. Passing by a toystore on their way to Grandma’s, Anna sees the world’s most beautiful toy rabbit – but it’s not exactly free; it costs fifty kroner! But Grandma knows what to do, and gives Anna a summer job: She has to look after the animals in five houses, and gets ten kroner for each house. Fifty kroner in total! It’s just that one snake and two rabbits and three birds and four tomato plants and five fish can quickly turn into one saturated snake, one rabbit disappeared, ten new rabbit children, two birds, three wilted plants and five starved fish – especially if you prefer drinking iced tea on the balcony, rather than looking after animals and plants day in and day out. And how many ten-kroner coins do you earn then? Not five, at least.
Nominated for the Brage Prize 2019
Mari Kanstad Johnsen is an exciting picture-book artist who expands and refreshes a genre that really needs it.
5 out of 6 stars
Like a breath of fresh air in the numeracy skills offerings to children, Mari Kanstad Johnsen has created a sequel to the magnificent ABC, namely 3 2 1. […] Even if you’re going to have to read the book 145 times – and you may well do – there are new details to be discovered each and every time.
It’s not just numbers that appear, but also moral principles. With supple pencil lines and broad brushstrokes, equality, diversity and sustainability are woven into the book.
The fact that Kanstad Johnsen actually lets the greater part of the story occur in the pictures is simply impeccable.
Mari Kanstad Johnsen
Auigon Johnsen
