65. How Many Squirrels Are In the World?

How Many Squirrels Are in the World? Ben Gundersheimer (Mister G). 2023. [February] 32 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: How many squirrels are in the world?
I'm looking high
I'm looking low
I'm counting squirrels
everywhere I go

Premise/plot: What you see is what you get. A little girl (and company) attempt to count how many squirrels are in the world. It's a daunting task, for sure, but a fun start to a counting book. This one counts to about twenty. The plot is minimal, but, what plot there is--is fun.

My thoughts: I like this one. I like it better after searching out the song that came before and 'inspired' this one. (You can find it on YouTube. Same name as the picture book).

I perhaps would have liked this one more if it had punctuation.

 

© 2023 Becky Laney of Young Readers

46. Ten Baskets of Biscuits

Ten Baskets of Biscuits. Kelly Kazek. Illustrated by Michelle Hazelwood Hyde. 2021. [April] 32 pages. [Best guess on pages][Source: Online YouTube video]

First sentence: The night before visiting Grandma Charley couldn't close her eyes. She was just too excited and full of butterflies.

Premise/plot: Charley is so very excited to be visiting her Grandma that she can't sleep. Her mom suggests that instead of counting sheep (to fall asleep) she should count the things she'll see at Grandma's house. Thus the counting begins:

One big Grandma kiss
And one big Grandma hug
That smelled like biscuits
And felt like love.

My thoughts: I really LOVED this one. I discovered it on YouTube. It appears to be the whole book. I could be wrong. But we do get all ten numbers. I'm confident that even if it wasn't the whole book exactly, my thoughts are so strong--LOVE, LOVE, LOVE--that I think any missing content wouldn't change my mind.

I love books that highlight the super-special-strong bond between grandparents and grandchildren. I love the imagery in this one. We get quite an idea of what this Grandma is all about! And the book is highlighting Southern grandmas. I love the narrative. Books written in rhyme don't always work well for me. I can be a bit harsh and judgmental if they don't. A rhyming book needs to really be a great read aloud. It needs to feel natural--not forced--and authentic--not fake. This one excels!

It was a sweet read. It captures dozens of joyful moments. And to be fair, the smell of gluten does resemble the feeling of love.

 

© 2021 Becky Laney of Young Readers

20. Ten Animals In Antarctica

Ten Animals in Antarctica. Moira Court. 2021. [January] 40 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, driest continent in the world. 

Premise/plot: Ten Animals in Antarctica is a nonfiction concept book for little ones. It features numbers (1-10) and stars animals from (you guessed it) Antarctica. 

After a brief introduction (for little ones) to the continent of Antarctica, the focus zooms in on counting various animals who make the frozen continent their home: leopard seals, emperor penguins, elephant seals, whales, snow petrels, orcas, flying squids, krills, etc. 

My thoughts: Why not a counting book with Antarctic animals stealing the show? Why not give pigs, cows, cats, dogs, and the like a break? 

There will always be a need for counting books though counting books don't make for the most thrilling reads for adult readers. What I would have appreciated--but didn't see in the ARC at least (ARC being Advanced Reader's Copy)--is some back matter. Perhaps a spread (in tinier print, of course) where animal facts (two or three sentences per animal) can be shared. I always find these to be interesting--even if they aren't necessarily part of the routine read aloud experience.

© 2021 Becky Laney of Young Readers

We Need More Nuts!

We Need More Nuts! Jonathan Fenske. 2017. Penguin. 32 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: One nut. Two nuts. Three nuts. Four nuts. We have four nuts. WE NEED MORE NUTS! Five and six and seven eight. Fun. Fun. Fun! These nuts are great!

Premise/plot: Two squirrels--one seemingly more enthusiastic than the other--acquire TWENTY-THREE nuts. This is a fun counting book written in rhyme starring two squirrels. It isn't your traditional counting book, not really, it has its quirks. (For example, when the eleventh nut goes missing, he makes his squirrel friend SPIT THEM ALL OUT AND START AGAIN.)

My thoughts: I enjoyed this one. I did. I think I did end up liking it better than the second book, Please, No More Nuts. I can be a bit judgmental when it comes to books written in rhyme. I'm a picky reader. But Fenske does well here with his rhyme.



© 2019 Becky Laney of Young Readers

Board book: Anne's Numbers

Anne's Numbers. Kelly Hill. 2018. 22 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: 1 cherry tree

Premise/plot: This concept board book is inspired by L.M. Montgomery's Anne series. The concept being taught is counting one to ten. Anne Shirley can be found in every illustration. The scenes often celebrate nature much like the novels do.

1 cherry tree
2 butterflies
3 stepping stones
4 trees

My thoughts: I find the illustrations cute, precious, adorable, delightful, fun. The text is super-simple and not exactly spectacular. But the illustrations are appealing--at least to adults.

I would recommend this one to parents--probably mothers--who love, love, love, love Anne Shirley.

Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 8 out of 10

© 2019 Becky Laney of Young Readers

Board book: 1 Grumpy Bruce

1 Grumpy Bruce: A Counting Board Book. Ryan T. Higgins. 2018. Disney-Hyperion. 24 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: 1 Grumpy bear, 2 uninvited skunks, 3 mice throwing a party, 4 geese helping...

Premise/plot: BRUCE is ONE grumpy bear. He is NOT having a good day. Will he still be grumpy at the end of the book?!

My thoughts: I loved, loved, loved Ryan T. Higgins' Mother Bruce. If you haven't read that picture book, you should seek it out. It's WONDERFUL. I really enjoyed revisiting this character in this counting board book. Bruce is a FABULOUS character. The illustrations are super-fun.

© 2019 Becky Laney of Young Readers

Ten Magic Butterflies

Ten Magic Butterflies. Danica McKellar. Illustrated by Jennifer Bricking. 2018. Random House.  40 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Once upon a time, there were 10 flower friends. Were they always happy? Well that depends...

Premise/plot: Ten (talking) flowers become dissatisfied with their life and dream of flying like the fairies they see at night. One flower speaks up and asks the fairy for a bit of magic. The fairy grants the wish: the flower becomes a butterfly. One by one flowers ask and receive the same wish. But will they be happier as butterflies?

My thoughts: This book is ALL about the math. The story is ALL about introducing the math facts:
1+9=10, 2+8=10, 3+7=10, 4+6=10, 5+5=10, 6+4=10, 7+3=10, 8+2=10, 9+1=10. True, she speeds up the process after 5+5 by just saying "Yes, one by one they filled the sky as the sweet little fairy helped each to fly." But essentially this is about the different ways you can get to ten. TOLD IN RHYME.

Would I be more forgiving if it wasn't told in rhyme? Probably. You see, I am a stubborn person who believes that rhyme and rhythm should go together...always, no exception. You can have rhythm without rhyme perhaps. But without rhythm, your rhyme is missing something vital. It's a pretender. And this book lacks rhythm.

Text: 2 out of 5
Illustrations: 3 out of 5
Total: 5 out of 10

© 2018 Becky Laney of Young Readers

Board book: Count My Cupcakes 1 2 3

Board Book: Count My Cupcakes 1 2 3. Joyce Wan. 2018. Scholastic. 14 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: 5 Five yummy cupcakes shimmy across the floor. In slides a milk shake. Oops! Now there are... 4 Four yummy cupcakes giggle with glee. Along rolls a donut. Uh-oh! Now there are...

Premise/plot: Count my Cupcakes 123 is the newest board book by Joyce Wan. In this one, readers count back from 5 to 1 as one by one cupcakes disappear from view. It is a touch-and-feel board book. The cupcakes are a squishy delight.

My thoughts: Joyce Wan wrote my all-time favorite, favorite, favorite board book YOU ARE MY CUPCAKE. This one would pair well with the other board book. And it's probably the first board book she's written since You Are My Cupcake that I really enjoyed. The illustrations are sweet and adorable.

© 2018 Becky Laney of Young Readers

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo. Emma Garcia. 2017. 32 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Chugga chugga choo choo...here comes the train! Clickety clack on the track. Going to...the seaside. We can taste the ice cream.

Premise/plot: This train has four cars--all numbered. As the train goes from stop to stop or destination to destination, the train picks up passengers--BIRDS. I'm doing a poor job of saying this is both a COUNTING book and a TRAIN book. The book also follows a certain pattern or rhythm...making it predictable. Many books for this age group are predictable. It's a positive, not a negative!

My thoughts: I liked it well enough. I didn't love, love, love it. I would be curious to kid-test this one to see how well it works. I can't stress this enough: kids and adults experience picture books differently. And a book can wow adults and flop with the intended audience. Likewise, a book that bores or annoys or confuses adults can be a child's BEST BOOK EVER. I think this one has some potential in a shared reading experience. Parents--caregivers--can make it more interactive, ask questions, point out things, count together, do animal noises or other sound effects, add their own commentary, etc.

Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 3 out of 5
Total: 6 out of 10

© 2017 Becky Laney of Young Readers

Five Little Ducks

Five Little Ducks. Beth Harwood. Illustrated by Emma Dodd. 2008. Amazing Baby. 10 pages.

Five little ducks went out one day,
over the hill and far away.
Mother duck said,
Quack, quack, quack!
But only four little ducks came back.
Four little ducks went out one day,
over the hill and far away...

I enjoyed this board book. It's predictable. It's repetitive. It's fun. It makes a great read aloud. If your little one loves ducks--loves hearing the quack, quack, quack--then I would definitely recommend this one!

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Count My Kisses, Little One

Count My Kisses, Little One. Ruthie May. Illustrated by Tamsin Ainslie. 2010. August 2010. Scholastic. 24 pages.

1 One kiss for baby on baby's nose
2 Two kisses for baby tickling toes
3 Three kisses for baby on teddy's knee
4 Four kisses for baby giggling with glee

Count My Kisses is a counting book for babies. It's very pink, very sweet, very girly. Is it a little too adorable? You'll have to judge for yourself. I liked the very soft, very sweet illustrations. The pinks, the blues, the greens. There is something very soothing, very pleasant about it.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Click, Clack, 123

Click, Clack, 123. Doreen Cronin. Illustrated by Betsy Lewin. 2006/2010. Little Simon. 22 pages.

1 farmer sleeping.
2 feet creeping.
3 buckets piled high.
4 chickens standing by.
5 cows type a note.

I don't know about you, but I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these spirited books by Doreen Cronin. Have you read Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type? How about Giggle, Giggle, Quack or Thump, Quack, Moo? Then there is Dooby Dooby Moo and Duck for President!

Like the previous books in the series, this one offers a few surprises!

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

I Like Bugs

I Like Bugs. Lorena Siminovich. 2010. March 2010. Candlewick. 10 pages.

I'll be honest. I don't like bugs. But. I do like I Like Bugs. I like it so, so much! I Like Bugs is a touch-and-feel book and a counting book. What are we counting? Bugs, of course!

1 one dragonfly
2 two butterflies
3 three beetles

I liked the different textures. I especially liked the texture for the beetles. I liked the bright, bold colors. The bright blue butterflies and the red flowers especially. Overall, I really enjoyed the art, the illustrations. The collage aspects made this board book extra special.

I would definitely recommend this one!

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Curious George: Curious Baby Counting

Curious George: Curious Baby Counting "by" H.A. Rey. 2009. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 12 pages.

If your baby really, really can't get enough of Curious George, then perhaps this one won't disappoint. There are other books in the Curious Baby/Curious George series that are better than this one. (For example, I do really love this one called Curious Baby: My Curious World.)

What this one does offer is a fairly interactive way to introduce the concept of counting to five. Curious George is visiting a farm and counting animals. The text is simple enough. And the illustrations are good enough. But it's not the most engaging book in the world.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Under the Star

Yolen, Jane. 2009. Under the Star. Illustrated by Vlasta van Kampen. Key Porter Kids.

This one is a "Christmas Counting Story." It falls into the very simple category. (That's not a bad thing necessarily. Complex and busy aren't always good things.) It's repetitive. It follows a clear pattern. (Which can be a very good thing when reading to young ones.) This means that young ones (who can't *read* yet) can still join in on reading it.

Under the star, under the star,
One angel sees a manger afar.

Under the star, under the star,
Two shepherds see a manger afar.

Under the star, under the star,
Three wise men see a manger afar.

Because it is a counting book, it keeps the Christmas story very simple. This won't tell you much about who the Baby Jesus is--who his parents were--or anything. But it works, in a way.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

One Dragon's Dream

Pavey, Peter. 1978/2009. One Dragon's Dream: A Counting Book.

Candlewick's first edition of this is releasing soon--next week in fact. The first thing that struck me about this one is how similar (in some ways) the look and feel of it is to the old Sesame Street cartoons of numbers--the pinball song I guess you'd call it. And then I saw the video for "When I'm Sixty-Four" and I saw the counting sequence (You know, the one minute is a long time part.) So in other words, even if I hadn't found the "1978" copyright date, there's no disguising that this one is from a different era.


The numbers, I like. I'll admit that. But everything from that point on is just weird, weird, weird. You'll have to be the judge on if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Seriously, one person's weird is another person's awesome.

1 One dragon had a dream
2 That two turkeys teased him,
3 Three tigers told him off,
4 And four frogs seized him.

It's not exactly my kind of counting book.


© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Snugglebug Friday: Fish, Swish, Splash, Dash

Macdonald, Suse. Fish, Swish, Splash, Dash. Little Simon, 2007

Snugglebug loves Macdonald’s Alphabet Animals so much that for his first birthday his mama, Ladybug, purchased another of Macdonald’s books.

Fish, Swish, Splash, Dash is an unusual counting book in more ways than one, making it an especially fun book to read. The illustrations are actually cut-outs with the colors of the next page showing through. Snugglebug loves sticking his fingers through the cut-outs.

The second aspect of the book is that it is really two books in one. Once you get to the end of the book, you turn it around and count backwards to the cover. It can be a never ending story because once you reach number one it again invites you to turn the book around and count to ten again.

This book is fun and one that Snugglebug can grow into as he learns to appreciate counting in both directions.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Jungle Gym

Krensky, Stephen. Jungle Gym: A Touch and Feel Counting Book. Illustrated by Marsha Gray Carrington.

Jungle Gym is a sturdy book for toddlers. (I'm not sure if the pages are quite thick enough to be classified as a board book. But the pages are considerably sturdier than the paper found in most picture books.) The book features jungle animals--lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos, etc. working out at the gym. These jungle animals know the importance of exercise being a part of a healthy life style. As I mentioned, the concept of this one is counting. Counting from one to ten. And it's a touch-and-feel book as well. So we get to feel the scales of the snake and the lion's mane, etc.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

1, 2, Buckle My Shoe

Hines, Anna Grossnickle. 2008. 1, 2, Buckle My Shoe. Harcourt. (Illustrations by Anna Grossnickle Hines.)

Words cannot begin to convey how much I love, love, love this book. Inspired by a quilt she made for her granddaughter, 1, 2, Buckle My Shoe uses quilt blocks to illustrate the familiar (and often beloved) nursery rhyme. (In one variation or another)

One, Two, buckle my shoe.
Three, four, shut the door.
Five, Six, pick up sticks.
Seven, eight, open the gate.
Nine, ten, my big fat hen.


Simple text. Familiar text. It is in the illustrating that this one reaches perfection. And I do mean perfection. On her website, she does show the quilt as a whole. And I'll be using that image here. But the illustrations of the book are copyrighted. And I'm not trying to violate that in any way. But I think just seeing a glimpse of what the illustrations are like will convince you to seek this one out!!! (They are different than the quilt below.)

The book is wonderful. The illustrations are wonderful. And the author's site is wonderful. This book has (according to the author's site) received two stars in review journals (Kirkus, Booklist).

Read the story behind the book.

Pigs Love Potatoes

Denise, Anika. 2007. Pigs Love Potatoes. Illustrated by Christopher Denise.

What's not to love about a family of potato-lovin' pigs? It all starts with one hungry little piggy. A piggy that wants a potato. But what one piggy wants, another and another and another and yet another will soon want. Soon Mama piggy is cooking ten potatoes for nine hungry piggies! Luckily, these pigs know how to help Mama best and remember to say thank you at the end of the meal! This is a fun counting book (1-10) featuring a family of piggies and their piggy neighbors.

One pig wants potatoes
So Mamma starts to cook.
Then one pig's little brother
Decides to come and look.
Now Two pigs want potatoes
And soon begin to yelp
So Mamma scolds her two pigs
And tells them they must help.

If you have a child that loves piggies, this one is a real treat!!!