The few words on each page of Count! invite a pattern of activities beyond counting: "Stretch, giraffes!" accompanies images of five yellow-and-black giraffes craning their necks on a neon pink page spread that includes the numeral, five green squares and the words "five giraffes." Lunch tells about a hungry mouse, gives children a chance to predict what he will eat by showing part of it on the preceding page, describing it with an adjective and indicating a color, such as a "crisp, white turnip." Both books are fun to use and dynamic to see from a distance due to Fleming's refreshing concepts of color and space. Book jacket information includes a description of Fleming's unique papermaking technique in which she builds layers of colored pulp. (Ages 3-7)

"Jump zebras! Stretch, giraffes! Wiggle, worms! Count, children!"

Why should children have to sit still while they learn? In this book, toddlers can count from one to ten while they wiggle with the worms, jump with the zebras, and stretch with the giraffes. Older children may want to keep on counting, by ones or tens, until the last of fifty bees flies by. But even then young tots won't feel left out--they can leap with the frogs or wave good-bye to the bees.
Simple enough for the youngest child at home, yet challenging enough for older siblings in school, this book is as energetic as the children it's meant for.