Danica McKellar

GOODNIGHT, NUMBERS
Written by Danica McKellar
Illustrated by Alicia Padrón
(Crown Books for Young Readers; $16.99, Ages 2-5)

Math lover, author and mom of five, Lucy Ravitch, recently read Goodnight, Numbers with her family and today shares her thoughts on best-selling author, Danica McKellar’s latest book. Remember to also check out Lucy’s website, Kids Math Teacher, here.

McKellar’s newest book (it came out last week), provides a fun, hands-on approach to counting. This nod to Goodnight, Moon offers up multiple bedtime opportunities for your kids to count up to ten and learn their individual numbers. Each page presents the number both in written form, and numerically giving little ones the perfect way to practice tracing with their fingers.

Now find out more about Goodnight, Numbers in Lucy’s enlightening video, then read on.

As you go through the spreads and explore the scenes with your kids, they’ll discover several groupings of items. If not, point them out. Some are easy to spot while others can be more difficult. In fact, that’s actually a great way to keep slightly older kids interested. My four- and five-year-old kids enjoyed looking through Padrón’s illustrations to see if they could find ALL the grouped items. Did your kids notice the three sofa cushions in the video?  As you saw in the video, I do suggest this book for children ages 0-6, but only if you really want to introduce numbers early. Otherwise it is ideal for ages 2+. It would be such a super idea for Crown Books for Young Readers to make Goodnight, Numbers into a board book that would be durable enough to withstand the hours of engagement this book will surely have over its lifetime. Pick up a copy at your local independent bookstore today. Happy counting!

• Reviewed by Lucy Ravitch