Anno's Counting Book (urspr publ 1975; utgåvan 1986)

"Every child is a natural mathematician", says Mitsumasa Anno. As children compare and classify things around them, they are bringing order to what they see and are actually doing basic math. This book introduced numbers and counting. Watercolor pictures add to the concepts.

Super fun to do with young children. They will want to count everything on the page so allow time for that in planning. As each page turns you begin to see a town developing. It's very interesting how the illustrator told a story using numbers. THis book started out with zero, most counting books start at one. It is very important to include the number zero because its included in ten and will help students better understand where ten comes from. Also, look up the book about how the zero felt left out when reading this one to children. ( )

This book is all about counting without making counting so boring. Throughout the book, each page adds another set of items and amount of the item. The book also shows great illustrations of the seasons as the 12 months past. The base 10 blocks is definitely a plus as well. In a class learning numbers, it may be a good idea to give them blocks to continue adding as the book is read. ( )

This is a simple yet unique counting book. As the pages turn, children have the ability to count from 0 to 12. Not only do children have a chance to practice counting, the wordless pages encourage them to search the illustrations for examples of each number. The seasons gradually change on each page as a town continues to grow. I feel as though a counting book could be very boring, yet this book gives a child the chance to use their imagination to equate each number with what they see on the page. This would be great to read with young children to expand their knowledge on counting. ( )

One of my favorite books to teach counting. Very subtle, beginning with the concept of zero - a picture of an empty snowy field) and then adding images that children can count as a town is built. Counts 1-12. Good for Pre-K - 1st grade.