“As a trio of tired tots settles into bed for the night, the sheep who should be helping them count down to slumber kick up their hooves in an energetic dance performance. Starting with one little lamb … [the] sheep tap, waltz, tango, and boogie … [until] finally, after their energy is danced out, nap sheep lull everyone to sleep.”
Kenda Henthorn’s lively, rhyming text borrows the rhythm of “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” to create a delightful read-aloud perfect for getting out the wiggles before bedtime. Lauren Gallegos’ cute art in soothing blues and energetic purples perfectly complements the energy of Henthorn’s words.
With added learning layers such as counting to ten, dance moves/vocabulary, and a few cultural Easter eggs in the art, this picture book works for the young and young-at-heart. Highly recommended for naptime in the early childhood classroom!
Sharing batch after batch of homemade doughnuts is what thoughtful friends do. But what’s LouAnn the bear to do just before hibernation when her stomach growls from hunger and no doughnuts remain? Such is the predicament presented inCarrie Finison’sdebut counting/math practice picture book DOZENS OF DOUGHNUTS with illustrations by Brianne Farley.
Farley’s fun art introduces the reader to a variety of delicious-looking doughnuts, each numbered to 24. Pink Sprinkles, Swirly, Jelly-Filled, and Nibbled (with a bite taken from this purple glazed doughnut) set the stage for the story to come.
A big brown bear is seen through her kitchen window busy stirring the big bowl of batter. She’ll eat some sweet treats, then, warm and well-fed, she’ll sleep away winter, tucked tight in her bed. The orange and yellow leaves show off the colors of fall as we see a beaver nearing the front door.
Although one dozen doughnuts are hot from the pan and ready for LouAnn the bear to devour, an unexpected DING-DONG! gets the story going in a whole new direction. Do you have enough for a neighbor to share? Woodrow the beaver asks. The reader counts the 12 red doughnuts on the large plate as LouAnn places 6 doughnuts on her plate and 6 doughnuts on Woodrow’s plate. Now the real counting begins.
With DING-DONG! after DING-DONG!, Finison’s rhymes welcome friend after friend at the bear’s front door. You’re welcome. Dig in! I’ll make more, says LouAnn. She measures and mixes as fast as she can. Clyde the Raccoon, Woodrow, and LouAnn are seen with four doughnuts on each plate, but note the smile leaving our kind-hearted bear’s face. Page after page, we see more friends arriving until there are no doughnuts remaining for our generous and exasperated hostess LouAnn.
She’s ready to sleep through the snow, ice, and sleet. But winter is near, and there’s nothing to eat! As the page turns, LouAnn lets loose a dramatic ROAR! and readers see the group of friends scram. Soon though they’re back, having realized they need to make things right for their pal. They return the kindness and become the bakers. (Another great lesson for young readers).
This sweet (after all it is about doughnuts) rhyming book is such an entertaining and clever way to teach kids how to count to 12 and also divide 12 by 2, 4, or 6. Conveying the importance of sharing is the icing on top. I felt empathy for LouAnn, who almost began hibernation hungry until her friends came through for her. Finison’s words show young readers why being considerate matters while cleverly sneaking in how to count and divide. Plus we see how many flavors of yummy doughnuts can be made!
NOTE: Read this book after a meal otherwise be sure to have donuts on hand!
100 BUGS! A COUNTING BOOK Written by Kate Narita
Illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17.99, Ages 5-7)
&
FLYING DEEP: Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible ALVIN Written by Michelle Cusolito
Illustrated by Nicole Wong
(Charlesbridge Books, $17.99, Ages 5-9)
are reviewed today by Cathy Ballou Mealey.
Sharpen your math and science observation skills with two new, detail-packed STEM-rich picture books from debut authors.
In100 BUGS! A COUNTING BOOK, two young summer explorers aren’t bugged by insects at all. They are on a seek-and-find counting quest from the pond to the field to the forest and everywhere in between. Armed with a butterfly net and magnifying glass, the daring duo discover and count an astonishing variety of interesting insects.Naritaemploys bouncy repetitive couplets to keep the mathematical and entomological journey moving at a quick pace in increasing sets of ten.
Kaufman’sbright, colorful collage-style art is engaging and cheerful, adeptly including an impressive accumulation of bugs throughout every page. A beautiful array of wildflowers and plants are also featured, complementing the detailed and intricate insects. Kaufman adds lots of birds and animals as well as an enthusiastic dog who follows the children on their adventures. With so much visual interest, young readers will be captivated. Notes at the end provide additional information on the insects and plants, making this a great STEM book selection.
InFLYING DEEP readers will imagine an underwater journey of exploration with the pilots of ALVIN, a deep-sea submersible. Their mission is to observe and analyze creatures and structures from the depths of the ocean floor, and to collect samples for further research at the surface. Cusolitouses a narrative logbook structure, inviting readers to ponder practical and procedural questions as if they are one of the crew members. What might you eat? How will you breathe? What will you see? Exciting discoveries and the possibility of danger raise the stakes for readers who will soak up this immersive science adventure.
Digital illustrations fromWongenrich this tale with incredible scenes from inside and outside the ALVIN. Realistic details abound, including the amazing variety of sea life and the riveted, technical components of the ALVIN itself. Wong uses light to her advantage, balancing sunlight and ALVIN’s spotlights above and below the ocean surface to focus attention on the stunning discoveries. A glossary, resources for further reading and notes from the author and illustrator round out this unique, informative book.
100 BUGS and FLYING DEEP were both recipients of starred reviews from Kirkus!
Where obtained: I reviewed either an advanced reader’s copy from the publisher or a library edition and received no other compensation. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Good Reads With Ronna occasionally provides links to shop at Once Upon a Time bookstore with whom we partner monthly to share a Wednesday What We’re Reading post. GRWR blog and its reviewers receive no compensation for any titles sold via this independent bookstore, but we do hope you’ll choose a local option when making your next purchase.
I know, I know, there are SO many Sandra Boynton books that beg to be read aloud including Moo, Baa, La La La!, The Going to Bed Book, Barnyard Dance!and Blue Hat, Green Hat, in fact I still can recite many of them after first reading them over 20 years ago. But Hippos Go Berserk!has a special place in my heart because both my children adored it and would not let me donate it when they grew too old for picture books. My copy is from 1996 although the book was first published in 1977.
When I think about what makes a story great to read aloud, I think about readability. Is the story easy for a parent, teacher, caregiver or child to read or do words slow them down? Can people take turns reading or pretending to be the characters? Are the pictures depicting some readily understood interpretation of the text? Does the book make you feel good when reading it? Is there fun repetition or engaging language? Can kids anticipate what comes next? Anyone looking at me reading Hippos Go Berserk!, even as an adult, will see a huge grin appear on my face after turning from page one to page two.
“One hippo, all alone, (page one) calls two hippos (page two) on the phone.” (page three)
So simple you may think, but the artwork Boynton’s created speaks volumes. First there’s a sad, lonely hippo on page one who decides to make a phone call to two friends. The mood of the story changes with just a flip of the page! Things are looking up.
The bonus is that it’s also a counting story which will hook kids who are eager to see where Boynton is taking the tale. Her hippos’ eyes and posture convey such a range of emotion that youngsters will want to linger on every page to make their assessment of everyone the hippo has invited and NOT invited over. The illustration of five hippos that arrive overdressed cracks me up every time I see it. Will they be invited in to join the other guests? Are they too posh for the crowd or will they fit right in? Help kids count how many hippos have come over, and they’ll be amazed how quickly the initial two friends who were called have now multiplied. Soon word is getting out that a cool party is underway and a big reason why eight hippos sneak in the back. Seeing them tiptoe softly, with one trying not to giggle too loudly, is part of Boynton’s brilliance. Until at last …
ALL THE HIPPOS GO BERSERK!
The letters are deliberately in all caps, and the bold type invites readers to use an outside voice. The scene is wild. The joint is jumping and hippos everywhere are having a blast, except maybe the ones hired to serve the hors d’oeuvres. With so much zaniness going on, Hippos Go Berserk! will be read over and over again, each time with some new discovery being made in the party spread. Soon kids will know the story by heart, helped by the rollicking rhyme and whimsical artwork. The all-night party must come to an end and before you know it even “The last two hippos go their way.” Somehow though, readers aren’t disappointed because there’s hope that the lone hippo, sitting by the phone just like when the book began, will inevitably pick up the receiver and make another call.
I don’t know if, all those years ago when I first read Hippos Go Berserk!to my children, I knew that Boynton wrote this delightful story when she was a student at the Yale School of Drama, but now I completely understand why her hippos are so darn dramatic not to mention adorable!
PETE THE CAT’S GOT CLASS
Written and illustrated by James Dean
(HarperCollins; $9.99, Ages 4-8)
James Dean’s series continues with his latest book, Pete the Cat’s Got Class. Pete’s in school and loves math because of the way numbers “work together,” but his super smart friend, Tom, struggles to understand it. “Pete has an idea! He will help Tom become awesome at math. Helping is cool!”
Using race cars to demonstrate the concepts of addition and subtraction, Pete and Tom work together, building Tom’s math proficiency levels. When their teacher, Mr. G., suspects the two cool cats have copied from one another on a math test, they demonstrate how using race cars made learning fun.
This hardcover book comes with 12 flash cards, a fold-out poster, and stickers. To do Pete’s “Meow Math,” twelve number stickers are included along with addition, subtraction, and equal signs. You can also count blocks or race cars, or play with the Pete and friends stickers.
The flash cards feature numbers one through ten; the word is printed on one side and digit on the other. For example, the back of “Five” shows “5” and five surfboards. Two “Directions” cards explain that kids can either learn the sight words or use the cards to practice their math skills.
Dean’s bright, deadpan-funny illustrations are once again a mainstay. The story line is interwoven with basic addition and subtraction problems, presenting an element of education in Pete the Cat’s Got Class.
Find out about author illustrator, James Dean here.
Reviewed by Christine Van ZandtWriter, editor, and owner of Write for Success www.Write-for-Success.com@WFSediting, Christine@Write-for-Success.comCo-editor of and writer for SCBWI’s Kite Tales
1 BIG SALAD: A DELICIOUS COUNTING BOOK
Written and illustrated by Juana Medina
(Viking BYR; $17.99, Ages 0-3)
★ Starred Reviews – Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal
1 Big Salad is one big hit of a book! Cute drawings with real photographs of salad ingredients all blend perfectly. As you count up in this book with your child, you’ll be introduced to adorable animals such as the avocado deer, pepper monkeys, tomato turtles, and more. It’s a great way to practice counting while encouraging healthy eating, hence my advice: read on an empty stomach and dish up some great greens together!
In my house, eating fresh veggies isn’t a problem, but I know it can be in many households with kids going for the kids’ regulars of mac and cheese, pizza, or chicken nuggets. So, why not add this fun salad to the mix? After going through all the animated ingredients there is even an easy vinaigrette dressing recipe.
Kudos to Juana Medina for creating 1 Big Salad, a simple, elegant, and appetizing book for families. I can’t wait to make this salad over and over again with my little ones. Yum!
If your young kids are into aquariums and learning about sea life then don’t miss this counting book. The beautiful underwater nature photographs match perfectly with the simple yet informative text. There is a little “Did you know?” section on each page with an interesting fact. Basic counting from 1-10 is so enjoyable with this book, plus in the back matter there’s a counting up and counting down page to review the numbers and the respective quantities with children.
This humorous bath adventure from Little Quack illustrator Derek Anderson, will have your kids cracking up! One cute little pig is taking a bath with his rubber ducky when others start to barge into the tub. The text has great rhythm and the illustrations are both cute and extremely funny! I would highly recommend this book for young kids and I know the adults reading it will also find it amusing. You have to find out how the original bathing pig gets the tub all to himself again.
Mice get into a lot of interesting and impressive mischief in this book! Mice Mischief offers a refreshing take on learning the different amounts that make 10. For example, as they get ready in the morning “8 mice cook. 2 mice juggle. 8+2=10.” It’s an engaging way to count and add with your little ones. The adorable illustrations complement the spare text perfectly. I hope they make a board book version since I think this book would be great for babies all the way up age 6.
Helping teach little kids to count can be a fun though often repetitive task, but there are quite a few books out that can make the standard 123s more interesting.
Here are three very different approaches to the standard counting exercise.
Number Circus: 1-10 and Back Againby Kveta Pacovská is a number activity book for little ones. On each page the number is given in many different formats, for example: 2, two, OO (2 circles to touch), (an illustration in the shape of 2), and often a flap with the number of objects as well. It has bright, bold colors and a play-with-me feel so that young children will enjoy running their little fingers over the numbers and counting the objects (not to mention opening the flap). It’s got 28 pages and is die cut throughout, definitely making this a great book for tactile learning of the number names and formation of writing each number digit.
Counting Lions: Portraits From the Wildby Katie Cotton is a beautiful book! It is worth every page turn just to see Stephen Walton’s gorgeous charcoal drawings of these majestic animals, but endangered animals. It takes a traditional approach of going through numbers 1-10, but the little bits of informative text along with the beautiful, realistic illustrations are wonderful. My almost three year-old loved the drawings as well as counting the various animals including lions, elephants, giraffes, pandas, tigers, chimpanzees, penguins, turtles, macaws, and zebras. I also found the extra back-matter about the animals and their extinction level very interesting. I highly recommend this book!
Counting Crows by Kathi Appelt goes from 1-12. This picture book’s got a fun, rhythmic text that groups the crows into threes, making it a nice read and highly enjoyable for young ones. The dust jacket cover was also a hit because it has textures–fuzzy, soft stripes on the crows’ sweaters, a slightly raised and coarse feel for the tree, and a smooth and silky feel for the scarf and title letters. The black and white illustrations go well with the pop of red from the crows’ sweaters. Definitely worth several readings to teach counting!
It’s great to read so many neat approaches to teaching math and numeracy. I can’t wait to see what other math related books come out next!
We’ve joined up with this clever Book Love Blog Hop after being tagged by reviewer and blogger, Cathy Ballou Mealey. The goal is to spread some book love which we’re doing for an imaginative picture book from this past September ’14 called Mr. Tweed’s Good Deeds(Flying Eye Books, $19.95, Ages 3-7) by Jim Stoten. The Blog Hop is part of Carrie Finison’s innovative Book Love Blog Hop, and we’re sure you’ll agree that it’s an absolutely brilliant concept!
The idea is to help promote children’s books worthy of positive social media attention. But with so many picture books competing for coverage, it’s difficult for every book to get their 15 minutes (or longer) of fame. As bloggers, we can help get the word out about terrific kidlit titles that may have been overlooked, and play our part in sharing some overdue shout outs.
Mr. Tweed’s Good Deeds, a seek-and-find counting book from 1-10, kept me throughly entertained as I dove in to search the first wildly colorful two-page spread. I was on the lookout for 1 kite that had snapped its string. While trying to locate the kite, I noticed so many other marvelous and zany things the author/illustrator included in a park scene: trees resembling paper airplanes and another sporting sunglasses and a hat, an enormous purple dog, an over-sized snail, some ducks on bikes and even an enormous shoe. Kids’ll have a blast pointing out the various items they notice as Mr. Tweed helps an unhappy little crocodile retrieve his lost kite.
“It felt good to help people,” Mr. Tweed thought to himself, as he left the park.
Next up Mr. Tweed volunteers to find Tibbles and Timkins, 2 adorable kittens belonging to Mrs. Fluffycuddle, that are hiding in a cottage garden. For Americans, the depiction of English scenery is a great introduction to another country although, apart from the double decker buses and no punctuation after Mr. or Mrs., it might be hard to realize the illustrator and book are from the U.K.
Kids and parents alike will have to use keen observation skills to spot the missing mice in the third spread which is a library packed with shelves and shelves of books. My favorite illustrations were of the pool, the market and the river, but I think youngsters will also enjoy the woods, the bustling street scene, the fair, and the big surprise waiting at the end.
Mr. Tweed’s kind gestures do not go unrewarded! Best of all, parents and kids will also be rewarded by the fun that is certain to be found exploring every inch of every single page in this cheerful, quirky counting picture book with its eye-popping artwork and its positive message. Try a little kindness and see how contagious it can be!
– Reviewed by Ronna Mandel
BOOK LOVE Blog Hop Instructions
1. Pick some books you love (any genre) that you think deserve more attention than they are getting.
2. Post reviews for the books you chose on Amazon/social media. The reviews can be brief – even a short review on Amazon helps. Posting on Goodreads or Shelfari is great, too, or Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. The more places you can publicly proclaim your love, the better!
3. If you want, you can also post the reviews on your own blog, or link your blog back to your reviews on social media.
4. Feel free to display the BOOK LOVE badge designed by Dana Carey on your blog – and if you want, link it back to this post so your visitors know what it’s all about.
5. Tag some friends to do the same! Tag friends through their blogs, or on Facebook.
That’s it! If you don’t want to wait to be tagged, you can jump right in and start reviewing and tagging yourself.
Countablock
by Christopher Franceschelli with art by Peskimo
(Abrams Appleseed, 2014, $16.95; ages 1-3)
Countablock by Christopher Franceschelli is no ordinary counting book. Of course, it has numbers 1-10 and then highlights 20, 30, 40 and so on until 100. It features fun objects to count, such as snowmen, heads of hair, baskets of cucumbers, and popsicles. Each main number is represented in words and a die-cut numeral over a double two-page spread. For example, we see forty eggs become [turn the page] thirty nine chicks and one dinosaur. Ninety kernels of corn become [turn the page] ninety pieces of popcorn.
However, the real delight is in the incredible artwork by the husband and wife design duo, Peskimo. The art has a retro/vintage style that nevertheless feels fresh. Cute expressions and cheery colors will appeal to both adults and children. Number 100 is treated to a double gatefold that is replete with characters from the previous numbers and lots of jigsaw puzzle pieces.
This companion to Alphablockhas earned a starred review from the School Library Journal and positive reviews from Kirkus Reviews and the New York Times. Sturdily built with thick pages and strong covers, this book should be able to withstand the little hands that will want to explore it again and again. It will make a great gift for the preschooler in your life.
I love a good scare on Halloween. But when my kids were little they only wanted to be frightened a teensy, weeny bit, if at all. Are your children like that? I’d say that Not Very Scary (Farrar Straus Giroux, $12.99, Ages 3-6) by Carol Brendler with illustrations by Greg Pizzoli, is just the right picture book for youngsters who want to feel the excitement and anticipation of Halloween without an ounce of the fear factor.
As the title says, this picture book is not very scary, in fact Brendler’s language has made it wonderfully whimsical and ultimately upbeat with its main character’s positive self-talk. This Halloween-themed tale takes Melly, the charming chartreuse-colored monster, on a walk to see her cousin, Malberta. Melly’s been invited over with the promise of a surprise, but on her journey to her cousin’s she is followed by all sorts of scary creatures, testing Melly’s bravery. She hesitates at first then continues on when she finds:
A coal-black cat with an itchy-twitchy tail!
Melly also encounters two skittish skeletons and three wheezy witches along with a trail of other seemingly frightening fiends. Also out for a stroll are seven frenzied fruit bats, eight spindly spiders, nine rambunctious rats, culminating with ten vexing vultures in this cumulative counting story that is sure to be read aloud to delighted children dozens of times. Parents can point out how the text builds up tension through Melly’s self-reassuring remarks. After seeing the coal-black cat, Melly says “Not the least bit scary,” to my favorite, “Not significantly scary,” upon seeing six sullen mummies. I love how Pizzoli drew each grouping of ghouls looks cautiously at the following set and he’s taken great care to make the characters absolutely adorable, never menacing, and all in marvelous colors. The ghosts grin, the witches balance on brooms and the mummies make some serious dance moves. And of course, the best part is the surprise at Malberta’s place that parents and kids alike will find most pleasing.
Steve Light’s charming and clever counting book, Have You Seen My Dragon?, takes us all over Manhattan soaking up the sights and counting various things found there. Light’s latest book was a recommended read by book buyer and author Catherine Linka and now I’m sharing her tip with you.
And speaking of tips, Light’s book includes numerous modes of transportation kids want to see in a busy city: taxis, subway cars, bikes, boats and buses, all for the counting – there are 16 subway cars and 17 taxis in case you were wondering! Whatever item is being counted is highlighted by being the only color on an otherwise detailed black and white page. What a marvelous way to grab kids’ attention and pull them back in again and again to search and savor every lovingly drawn line.
I’m a former New Yorker so I especially appreciated this free ride to my hometown. As readers we wind our way all around the Big Apple with a little lad who is searching for his pet dragon. The beauty of this picture book is how Light has created a captivating counting story using inviting pen-and-ink illustrations that yield beautiful surprises as young readers seek and find the cheeky dragon. All the while your child may be looking out for the hidden-in-plain sight dragon, you’ll be noticing humorous little gems that Light’s illustrated to keep you on your toes. Take the monkey, for example, just under the dragon fountain. He’s reaching for the zookeeper’s keys!
From Central Park to China Town, with patches of pinks and reds and purples scattered throughout the pages, there is simply so much to see and enjoy in Have You Seen My Dragon? I have no doubt you’ll agree that this picture book has everything youngsters want in a picture book and then some. Enjoy your trip!
