Review by New York Times Review
There's so much you can do with just the first three numbers, as Ruzzier ("A Letter for Leo") shows in this compact take on the counting book. Two mice, drawn with Ruzzier's usual warm quirkiness, confront visual problems in the form of one, two or three - boats and oars or, suspensefully, a mama eagle with three mouths to feed. What a cute, clever way into number sense. THE GREAT AND MIGHTY NIKKO! A Bilingual Counting Book. Written and illustrated by Xavier Garza. 32 pp. Cinco Puntos. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 2 to 7) Lucha libre fans who also have little ones to share books with: Rejoice! Garza brings the Mexican masked wrestlers into the home of a boy named Nikko with bursts of comics-style color and a muralist's larger-than-life energy. Nikko's mother says to stop wrestling on his bed. The luchadores keep increasing one by one, until there are 10 - and an epic battle in side-by-side English and Spanish. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Numbers in Nature By Nancy Raines Day. Illustrated by Kurt Cyrus. 32 pp. Beach Lane. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) The numerical nature of nature forms the basis of this elegant rhymed counting book, which calls attention to orderly patterns all around us. What comes grouped in threes? "Leaves of a clover, bodies of bees." Nines? "Stickleback fish's prickly spines." We end with a set that is "too big to count" - stars in the night sky, in constellations shaped like the previous numbered things. CHARLIE PIECHART AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING PIZZA SLICE By Eric Comstock and Marilyn Sadler. 40 pp. Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) In this retro-pop treat, pizza night at Charlie's house requires some fleet calculations: If you've ordered pies for "particular" eaters, you'll relate. Our hero has the advantage of a love of fractions and a body that is actually a pie chart, which comes in handy when a slice goes missing. Mom and Dad help out by splitting one, though Charlie's sleuthing eventually leads to the culprit. SECRET CODERS By Gene Luen Yang. Illustrated by Mike Holmes. 91 pp. First Second. Paper. $9.99. (Graphic novel; ages 8 and up) Not until the end of this ingenious book does Yang ("Boxers" and "Saints") show his hand: "They're just lists of instructions, nothing more," we learn of computer programs. By then our basketball-loving heroes - a girl, Hopper, and a boy, Eni - have used basic coding principles to crack a mystery involving four-eyed birds and a creepy school janitor. The next installment can't come soon enough. ONLINE An expanded visual presentation at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 23, 2015]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this calm counting book, Day (A Is for Alliguitar) numbers elements in nature: "What in the world comes one by one?/ A nose. A mouth. The moon. The sun." Day's rhyming text follows this formula from one to 10, detailing things that come "two by two" (birds' wings) and "in threes" (clover leaves and bees' segmented bodies). For "eight by eight," Day names "Octopus limbs that undulate," and in case anyone thinks first of spiders' legs, an author's note suggests each reader "look for a numerical set in the world around you." (Nine is a tough one, and the nine-spined stickleback fish fills the bill.) Cyrus (The Voyage of Turtle Rex) pictures earth, water, and sky in serigraph-style digital art with limpid backdrops that resemble watercolor wash. His imagery-including a spread of a child dipping his toes in a tide pool where sea stars congregate-evokes pristine places in nature, even if his method gives the settings and creatures a curiously plasticky smoothness. Pleasant and diverting, this numerical list may well encourage readers to notice patterns in natural phenomena. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-Day's simple rhyming text encourages children to count natural phenomena. From one moon and sun to stars in "sets too big to count," her examples give viewers opportunities to hone their skills. The large format encourages group participation. For the most part, the items to be counted are easily identified. Five arms on five sea stars and eight undulating octopus limbs are exceptionally clear. The seven colors of the rainbow shading from one to another will be harder to distinguish, and the child's crossed arms hide one finger. Yet, Cyrus's thoughtfully composed illustrations will reward repeated viewings, because featured objects recur in several places. For example, the three bees hovering in the lower corner of the spread featuring two bluebirds appear prominently when the page is turned. Sharp-eyed viewers will be rewarded by such discoveries, including the appearance of many plants and animals traced in the night sky among the stars. VERDICT This book can serve as a group introduction to encourage students to spot sets in the natural world and inspire one-on-one or independent viewers to spot the interconnections in the illustrations.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University Library, Mankato © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
This rhymed counting book explores numbers found in nature, from one (a mouth, nose, moon) to ten (toes and fingers), ending with a set too big to count (stars). Examples range from the familiar (birds, octopuses) to the hard to count (colors in a rainbow) to the less well known (stickleback fish). The digitally created illustrations evoke beauty and peace. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This more-than-a-counting-book introduces things recognizable in numbered sets. The compact, rhyming narrative rhetorically asks readers to think about numbers in the world, beginning and ending with eyes on the sky: "What in the world comes one by one? / A nose. A mouth. The moon. / The sun." Young listeners who comprehend the world through the ways it can be measured will find this gripping and consoling. For little ones who like to enumerate their world, here's an affirmation that much of it can be counted, appreciated for its finitude, and observed in its varied, living parts. The counting goes up through 10, looking at birds, insects, sea creatures, and deer in the seaside forest. "Three" invites discussion about the parts of beestheir bodies comprise head, thorax, and abdomen, but they also have wings and antennae. The wordsetsthat has been implied all along appears near the end: "And what comes in sets too big to count?" Here, on the last two double-page spreads, a starry sky bears the faint outlines of each numbered thing that has come beforeour human eyes impose order on the nearly limitless stars. Cyrus' digitally rendered art uses solid dark outlines for objects and clear, rich tones for a feeling of spaciousness and peace.Textured, visually rich, and gracefully simple, this is a fine blend of informative poetry and illustration. (Picture book. 2-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
