Where Is the Green Sheep?

This book’s simple ‘plot’ is conveyed by its title. Each page introduces a new sheep, with a new adjective, which is paired with the sheep on the next page either by opposite[1] or by association[2]. After every rhymed couplet, the question is reiterated[3]. In the end, of course, the tension is resolved as “our green sheep” is found, and contentment prevails.

The appeal of this sturdy, almost-square hardback will endure throughout early childhood. Once familiar, it lends itself to independent ‘reading,’ as few pages have more than six words, most of which are repeated frequently and predictably throughout the text. The unrepeated vocabulary is provided by the illustrations, which are clearly linked to their captions.

Each sheep is exuberantly illustrated, having fun (for example the rain sheep is unmistakably singing in the rain, as it dances around a lamppost twirling a rainbow-coloured umbrella). Older children will find careful observation of the illustrations rewarding, as many details visually connect the sheep pairs. Just before the end of the book, more than twenty of the flock are depicted in one illustration, engaged in a further variety of unlabelled pursuits. There is plenty of thought and discussion to be generated by the words and the pictures, making this an ideal book to be enjoyed either shared or alone.

Fox, M. (2004). Where is the green sheep? (J. Horacek, illus.). Melbourne, Australia: Penguin.

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[1] e.g. “Here is the near sheep. And here is the far sheep.”

[2] e.g. “Here is the moon sheep. And here is the star sheep.”

[3] “(but) where is the green sheep?”

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