Anno's Counting Book

Rating:
Summary: counting, and more.
Review: Anno's _Counting Book_'s first page features a barren hillside, with a frozen river snaking up the hill. Nothing to count here (unless your child points out the river, or the hill!). This is page zero.

On page 1, there is exactly one of several different items-- a bridge, a sun, a building, a snowman, a skier, and more. On page two, there are two of each item presented-- two leafless trees, two trucks, two men, a steeple clock set at 2 o'clock, two rabbits. You get the idea.

There are no words on the pages-- this makes the book an ideal text for teaching the names of these items, too. My child asks "What's that?" when he doesn't know what an item is. Then he repeats the name after me.

Some features of a distant hillside are special (think individual tiny flowers, or butterflies) can not be seen by a distant viewer, but Anno has adjusted for this in his book. Items which are small in real life, such as flowers and butterflies, are presented out of scale in this book, so that the reader can appreciate them along with the other items, such as buildings and people.

The pages 1 through 12 represent the 12 months of the year in a continental climate in the Northern Hemisphere, so 1, 2 and 12 are wintry, 3, 4, and 5 represent springtime, and so forth.

Anno's book is nicely laid out and designed. The pictures are a bit old fashioned, but it is well thought out and should appeal to children for several years, as the pages with higher numbers are more cluttered and therefore more difficult. They also offer more opportunity for creating one's own story as the reader sees such actions as marriages, fencebuilding, caroling, and children playing.

Rating:
Summary: gentle, artistic introduction to early mathematical concepts
Review: Mitsumasa Anno creates graceful children's picture books that are more evocative than prose and more elegant than poetry. In this counting book, the author/illustrator allows the concepts of number, sets and arithmetic progression to unfold in pages, numbered one to twelve, that also correspond to the first through twelfth month.

Seasons evolve as a little town grows, children play, trees appear, animals pass through, and the clock marks the hours.

Like Anno's other books, this little gem can be enjoyed year after year as children (and adults) continue to find more complex concepts as their cognitive understanding matures.

Rating:
Summary: gentle, artistic introduction to early mathematical concepts
Review: Mitsumasa Anno creates graceful children's picture books that are more evocative than prose and more elegant than poetry. In this counting book, the author/illustrator allows the concepts of number, sets and arithmetic progression to unfold in pages, numbered one to twelve, that also correspond to the first through twelfth month.

Seasons evolve as a little town grows, children play, trees appear, animals pass through, and the clock marks the hours.

Like Anno's other books, this little gem can be enjoyed year after year as children (and adults) continue to find more complex concepts as their cognitive understanding matures.

Rating:
Summary: great book, well loved at our house
Review: My three year old loves this book. In addition to practicing our counting skills, we love to sit down with this book and make up our own story to go along with the pages. I ask him what the children are doing, what the people might be saying, and what is going on inside each building. There is lots of room for imagination. I never realized how much exploration can occur when the text is left out and you are allowed to interpret the pages for yourself. This is a treasure of a book!

Rating:
Summary: Lovely Book
Review: This book is a great intoduction to numbers and the overall concept of counting. We've been reading it since my little girl was one, and every time there is some thing new to focus our counting on. The concept is GREAT, even if its to early to count, the beautiful illustrations hold their own.

Rating:
Summary: Truly an excellent book!
Review: THis is a must have for young children. There is no text and only one number on each page. However, this book is a delight.

On page one exactly one of everything appears, on page two you two of more things and on page ten you see ten of many things. As the numbers grow higher the little town grows and the seasons change. THis enables you to discuss counting with your child as well as tell a story about the little town. You can also talk about seasons. What a wonderful multi use book. The illustrations are gentle and are not garish.

This is truly an excellent book. Well worth the money.