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ANNO'S COUNTING BOOK Review

This beautifully illustrated picture book for numbers 0-12 is a delight! Each of the double-page watercolor illustrations depicts a landscape. In the right margin, the featured number appears. In the left margin, there's a column of 10 boxes. The appropriate box for the featured number is colored in.

The book begins with a desolate, snow-covered landscape . The only color is the light blue of a sky and a frozen river. There is not one house, tree, person or farmhouse. Your child will grasp the "nothingness" of zero.

Turn the page for number 1 and 1 appears in the right margin. On the left, box 1 is colored in the ten-box column. Now in the snowy terrain, we see a bridge across the river and one tree, one skier, one snowman, one dog and one farmhouse. Because there's no text on the page, you and your child can make up your own story about the little village, its people, their activities and what they say to each other.

Turn the page to number 2. It's early spring. The snow is melting; fields are turning brown. We now see a church not far from the farmhouse as well as two trucks , two men, two pine trees, two children running. Your child will have fun pointing out all the pairs on the page. For number 3, it's early spring and guess how many canoes are on the river?

The last illustration is number 12. It's Christmastime in the village! Villagers gather in the snow round a Christmas tree as reindeer fly through the sky. Each of the twelve illustrations have chronicled the year. Seasons pass as the little village grows, children play, crops are harvested and the clock on the church steeple marks the hour.

Have your child "read" to you as you turn each page. The little village and its inhabitants provide lots of room for imagination. A gem of a book! Full parent participation is required to make the village come to life. Highly recommended!

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Customer Reviews

Perfect Counting Book - Nitin Gupta - New Delhi, India
Got this for my kid and I have to agree it beats every counting book available. My son who knows to read, write and count numbers loved this book. It gave him the understanding of numbers and he could actually "see" difference between 3 and 7. Combination of blocks, seasons, month and clock gives a unique idea of how things change from 0 to 12. Most interesting part was rainbow for number 7, I think.

It's a WOW book for children aged 3-5.






Excellent early math book - Elisa's Mom - Dallas, TX
I found this book on a recommended Early Math reading list posted on the PBS Parents website.

Since there are no words in this book, there is nothing to actually read to your child. But it is likely one of the longest 12 page books I've read. And it is by far the most significant number book my 3 year old has read.

Anno uses a town to depict and define numbers 0-12, the seasons, and the months of the year. The seasons and months are recognizeable, but not the focus like the numbers are. For the number 0, you see a blank landscape with a small river. When the child turns the page, he sees a large number 1 on the right side of the book and in the landscape one lone building, one tree, one sun, one snowman.... There is also a set of blocks on the left side of the book, with one block colored in. Thus, the child can see the number 1 represented as a numeral, as a block (of a set of 10), and as an object (one building, one tree, one person). As you turn the pages and the numbers increase, a village forms. The final page is the number 12 -- a full village at Christmas time, complete with 12 reindeer in the sky.

As a parent, I enjoy having my daughter "read" to me. But I am most amazed by how the book has helped her to grasp the concept of numbers. As she explained, "0, Mommy. Because there's nothing there."





Best counting book ever - A. J. Cornish Bowden - Marseilles, France
This is, quite simply, the best book I've ever seen for familiarizing small children with the numbers from 0 to 12 (not for teaching them to read, because there is no text). However, it needs an attentive adult to go through slowly with the child, inventing a story to correspond with the pictures. I doubt whether a child could get much from it if left to go through it alone.

On page 0 there is nothing -- just a snow-covered hillside. On page 1 there is one building, one adult, one child, one animal, one bird, etc. On page 2 there are two of everything, until, at page 12 there is a complete little village. The choice of 12 steps in the story is not accidental or arbitrary, but corresponds to the number of months in the year, so we start in the dead of winter, move to spring, summer, autumn and back to winter again.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 26, 2010 01:19:05