Circle Round by Anne Sibley O'Brien illustrated by Hanna Cha

Just when you think there surely are no new ideas for books you find a book that surprises you! There are children playing in all the different places found in their local park. Then when you look closer you see the children are all from different backgrounds (think inclusion). This is also a counting book with numbers one to ten plus a concept book about the circles we see all around us. Circles like paths, balls, bicycles, hoops, frisbees, monkey bar climbing rings, ground level water spouts (you will recognise these if you live in Manly (Sydney Australia), bubbles, marbles, balloons, and cookies! With a group of older children it this book could be used to talk about the way illustrators interpret a text. 

Circle Round was published in 2021 and it is still available but here in Australia it is fairly expensive. If your budget allows this would be a good book to add to a preschool library collection. 

Bookseller blurb: an inspiring new story of inclusion. One child in the park waves over a second child. Two children then wave over a third. Counting from one to ten, a growing circle of children see new faces outside the group and invite them over. Children of different abilities, ages, genders, and races demonstrate how easy it can be to expand your group, extend yourself, and welcome new friends.

This ode to kindness and a welcoming spirit is cheerful and textually minimal, focusing on number words one to 10, active verbs, and the words circle or circles in boldfaced larger type. Kirkus

The message of inclusion, underscored by the illustrations casual diversity in characters’ skin tones, ethnicities, genders, and abilities, is clear for very young children—all of whom would likely be welcomed enthusiastically into this circle of friends." The Horn Book

Hanna Cha is a Caldecott honour recipient for her book The Truth about Dragons.

Anne Sibley O'Brien is an author and an illustrator. She lives on an island in Maine. You can read about her childhood in Korea as the child of missionaries here. She is the co-founder of I'm Your Neighbor Books in Portland. This looks like a fabulous resource rather like our wonderful Lost in Books here in Sydney. Read more about the way I'm Your Neighbor share their book collections. Here is a 2016 interview with Anne Sibley O'Brien. 

I love this image of the questions the children planned to ask during an author visit and also here you can see some of her books.