The Wonders of Weiner Dogs: Dozens of Dachshunds by Stephanie Calmenson

THE DACHSHUNDS ARE COMING! THEY ARE ON THE WAY.

WHERE WILL THEY GO ON THIS BEAUTIFUL DAY?

The first solo dachshund is dashing, dressed to the nines in top hat and tux, followed by a duo of weiner dogs in their buns, with all the trimmings! Then come a trio of ice cream cone dachsies with cherries on top, trailed by four regal dachshunds in ermine and crowns.

It's clearly a parade of all kinds of dachshunds, shiny black shorthairs, sleek as wet seals, classy long-hairs with wavy long locks, and game day pooches in helmets and caps, waving shakers and brandishing baseball bats.

EIGHT STYLISH DACHSHUNDS SASHEY THROUGH THE CITY.

IN ALL KINDS OF HATS, THEY'RE SO HANDSOME AND PRETTY.

Then come ten soaring superhero hounds, masked marvels and caped crusaders, followed by eleven prehistoric dino-hunds and a dozen racing dachsies, saddled and bridled to finish the race. Where are they all heading, you ask? For what do they all bark?

It's DACHSHUND DAY down in the park, in Stephanie Calmenson's latest Dozens of Dachshunds: A Counting, Woofing, Wagging Book (Bloomsbury Books, 2021).

In rhyming couplets as bouncy as their subject, and with jolly illustrations of every weiner dog imaginable by artist Zee Persico, this brand-new book has oodles of applications, from teaching counting from one to a dozen, to sorting varieties of adorable dachshunds and all sorts of people who love them for their small size and big personalities.

Young primary students will want to sing along with Calmenson's closing song: "We love dachshunds, short and long. / They are bold, and they are strong. / They are loyal. They are proud. / They may be small, but their barks are LOUD!" Adds Booklist, "Delightful dachshund facts round things off in the back matter".

Share this one with a couple of famous weiner dog picture books, such as Margret and H.A. Rey's evergreen Pretzel (Curious George) and Dav Pilkey's hilarious classic Halloween tale, The Hallo-Wiener.

Hitching A Ride?Two Dogs On A Trike by Gabi Snyder

ONE DOG STANDS ALONE.

At least that's what he thinks, as he eyes a small poodle pedaling his tall trike by the gate. But there's someone else, unbeknownst, eyeballing the scene from the window, someone with a definitely slitty feline eye.

The tall dog hops onto the back of the trike as the two roll down the sidewalk, all unaware that the cat is on their trail on silent cat feet.

The two join a chubby dog on a scooter. It's three canines on one scooter with one fast feline on skates in hot pursuit, and soon the three dogs join a dachshund on his snug two-seater bike, unaware that the wily cat is following on a feloniously captured skateboard.

FOUR DOGS ON A BIKE!

WAIT! There's a trolley with a Chihuahua conductor! Surely that will leave the cat in the dust!

FIVE DOGS ON A TROLLEY!

But, no! Can a trolley outpace a cat in a race car? No, it can't. The dogs raise the ante! All six canines take the train, while the cat rides on top! Can they fool the feline by jumping on the ferry? Foolish dogs! Their feline pursuer spots them with a spyglass from a sub!

The canines commandeer an airplane, but the cat follows in a chopper! The hapless hounds and their pilot pug hop into a hot-air balloon that's handy, but the cat has a firm hold on a helium balloon and is hot on their trail! Egads! Is there no escape from this cat, even in a flying saucer soaring in space?

TEN DOGS.... WAIT!

Who is that feline figure in the last seat? Can it be ... the CAT?

It's time for a countdown as the dogs reverse the trip, taking each means of transport, with the cat following suit, from ten down to one, with the cat matching his mode of transportation to theirs until they are back to where they started. Well, almost. (The cat finally finds a feline friend to share a ride with him.) It's up to ten and down again, in Gabi Snyder's clever cat and dog confrontation via transportation, in her new Two Dogs on a Trike (Abrams Appleseed Books, 2020).

For early childhood learners this book has it all--rhyming words, counting practice, and the fun of learning about all sorts of vehicles, from recumbent bicycles to unicycles, from trains to planes. This one does double duty as a beginning reader as well as an early counting book, and there are plenty of comedic details in Robin Rosenthal's clever illustrations, with a wide range of dog breeds to identify to boot. Way to GO, Gabi Snyder!

Ten Woodland Babies: Over in the Forest by Marianne Berkes

Over in the forest where the clean rivers run,

Lived a busy mother beaver and her little kit one.

And what does a mother beaver teach her baby? She teaches him to BUILD--gathering branches and building a sturdy dam and den for their winter lodge.

But the woodland forest has many mothers and little ones, all learning what to do!

Mother Deer and her two fawns GRAZE on the green grass; Mother Possum teaches her three little joeys to CLIMB into a hollow tree.

Mama Box Turtle teaches her hatchlings four to HIDE, inside their shells on the forest floor, and Mother Turkey takes her five little poults out to scratch where berries thrive, while Mrs. Squirrel, with her kits six do gymnastic TRICKS in the trees.

Mother Woodpecker's seven chicks learn to RAP AND TAP on trees for their supper, and Mama Raccoon shows her eight kits how to DUNK AND DABBLE their dinners.

Mama Skunk teaches her nine kits to stomp and SPRAY!. Pew-ewww! Keep away!

Papa Fox teaches how to POUNCE on prey so his ten kits can dine in their den.

And to the familiar tune of "Over in the Meadow," youngsters can learn to count, to recognize common woodland animals, what their babies are called, and some of their signature behaviors in Marianne Berkes' joyous nature science book, Over in the Forest: Come and Take a Peek (Dawn Publications) in a rhyming song to sing along.  Berkes soft and lovely paper collage woodland animals are pleasure to see and fun to count.

But wait! There's more! Well concealed in each beautiful double-page spread is a hidden mystery animal--a tree frog, black bear, blue jay, salamander, rat snake, coyote, bobcat, red-tailed hawk, owl, and porcupine for sharp-eyed young readers to discover in the foliage. Author-illustrator Berkes has provided a singalong lesson perfect for preschool and primary classroom units on woodland animals which also includes teaching tips and music and art activities in the appendix, as well as backmatter that extends cross-curriculum teaching opportunities--a bibliography of books and websites, collage skills as well as music for the song itself.

Says Kirkus Reviews, "... Paper-collage, colored-pencil and pastel artwork is filled with gorgeous textures that echo the natural world of the forest." A first purchase for school and public libraries, and a handy home activity book.

Rabbit Rousing! Pete the Cat and the Five Little Bunnies by Kimberly and James Dean

What do bunnies do?

They HOP!

Now Pete's in a pickle! He's taken on the job of baby-sitting five little bunnies, and when he tries to corral them for bedtime, nature takes its course.

The bunnies start hopping all at once.

Five little bunnies jumping on the bed.

One fell off and bumped his head.

Bunny heads are going bump in the night! And not surprisingly, Pete finds himself in a predictable babysitting situation.

He calls the doctor for medical advice, and of course he gets practical advice. Don't let them DO that!

But the bunnies keep bouncing and the heads keep bumping, until poor Pete the Cat calls the doctor again. The doc points out the only solution:

Put those bunnies straight to bed!

Taking a page from Eileen Christolow's classic Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (Padded Board Book) (A Five Little Monkeys Story), Kimberly and James Dean's latest, Pete the Cat: Five Little Bunnies (Harper, 2020) doubles as Easter-related bunny story and counting book tale, with their usual Pete the Cat fun for preschoolers and emergent readers. Perfect for a sweet but not sugary Easter basket stuffer.

Pair this one with the James and Kimberly Dean's Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure.

Flying the Coop! Chicken Break: A Counting Book by Cate Berry

The hens are feeling fenced in! The cocks are quite claustrophobic. The chicks are ready to fly the coop!

The hens have had it with the hen house!

The hens hatch the plan.
Four chickens on the lamb.

But lambs don't make for very good getaway vehicles, so the pullets go incognito, copy the code, and sneak to the poultry yard gate to upload it.

It's the great chicken coop breakout!

What do chickens do when they split the chicken yard?

They pig out on pretzels, make like mall rats, shop till their tail feathers drop, and take in their fave show, Bantam of the Opera!

But as it gets to be time to go to roost, the hens are homesick for the old home-sweet-coop. So they fly the bright lights by any means possible--taxi, tunnels, jet-packs, sky diving, and zip-lining!

And one by one they hot-foot it into their homey coop--

Shushing, clucking, one last poop!

It's time for the hens to hit the hay in their own hen house, in Cate Berry's merry Chicken Break!: A Counting Book. Author Cate Berry takes care of the clever rhyming couplets, and artist Charlotte Adler adds her cute cartoon chickens in this quirky tale of the great poultry getaway. Pair this one with Cate Berry's  Tiny Shrimp Don't Do Bedtime! (see review here).

Critter Counter: Five Little Bugs by Shannon Hays

Babies love bugs, but busy moms don't always want their little ones to touch them. But in Vicky Harvey's and Shannon Hays' 5 Little Bugs (Make Believe Ideas, 2019), little fingers get the touch-and-feel fun of touching the five buggy critters in the Busy Bees series of board books for the youngest book fanciers.

In Five Little Bugs, little ones get to touch the textured creatures visible through the cut-outs in the cover.

Five little busy bugs
Doing all their chores,
Bee buzzes off
And that leaves... four

And with each page turn, each critter takes off exploring, leaving one less to see and touch, until they are all gone, tired and ready for their own buggy bed for the night, in this small board book by Shannon Hays and Vicky Harvey, made just for small hands to hold with fun for the eye as well as a tactile treat for tiny fingers.

You Can Count On Me! Everyone Counts! by Judy Sierra

It started out small, with no creatures at all,
Just a musty, old, dusty tumbledown mall.
Then along came Takoda the tiger cub, who
Saw the tumbledown mall and imagined a zoo.

But the animals soon see that to build a zoo... there's a LOT to do!

... to build a new zoo takes a mighty big crew.

Two tough rhinos bulldoze the trash from the mall, and three lemurs lean in with paint rollers to provide orange walls.

Ten bugs offer their skills to the zoo, which the big animals eschew:

"You bugs are too small.
"You don't count at all."

Four oryx carve square windows, and five bears build their own lairs. Six giraffes contribute tall towers. seven bats display banners, while eight elephants engineer the playground... and some optimistic soul gives nine crocodiles the contract for the water slide. But all is peaceful collaboration until some bullies try to take it all over for themselves, and then it's -- pesty bugs to the rescue.... All for one and one for all!

The companion book to their top-seller, Wild About Books, author Judy Sierra and artist Marc Brown (of Arthur fame) provide a rollicking, alliterative lilt with Sierra's clever couplets and plenty of detail in Marc Brown's comic characters to keep kids looking at the busy pastel illustrations, as they go up to ten and down again in their latest collaboration, Everyone Counts (Alfred A. Knopf, 2019). The title itself is a catchy pun which adds fun to this new title by two picture book pros. And although this inviting counting book is aimed particularly at preschool youngsters, older kids will want to sneak a peek at the hilarious animal riddles--old groaners and some new zingers--on the endpapers. Says Kirkus Reviews, "This rhythmic, imaginative romp practically reads itself aloud."

Up to Ten and Down Again! How to Two by David Soman

ONE can have fun!

A little boy's red cap flies off his head as he shoots off the end of a clearly slippery sliding board. What a ride!

But in the background, a solitary small girl in big green boots sits alone on one end of the seesaw.

It takes TWO to teeter-totter, so the boy jumps on!

Just then a girl with a jump rope hops into the scene. Can they make it a THREEsome?

The seesaw is forgotten as the two kids each take an end of the rope and the little girl jumps in--just as a boy with a ball walks up.

HOW TO FOUR?

Play FOURsquare, of course, as they toss the ball around the little court painted on the pavement.

But the play group grows to include a boy pushing his toy bulldozer dump truck around in the sand box, and all FIVE get busy building a mountain in the middle for the trucks to move.

And when a sudden shower threatens, all FIVE run for the shelter, where a single girl makes SIX as she joins them in a circle game while they wait out the rain. Soon it stops, and when they spot a boy outside stomping through the puddles, they all race out to splash along with him, where the SEVEN splashers see a girl swinging from a tree branch, and they become a group of EIGHT playing hide-and-seek among the trees. And when a boy with a magnifying glass appears, all NINE get to peer through his glass at the turtles in the pond. And when one spies a boy alone on a bench, they're a team of TEN.

There's always room for ONE more, in author-illustrator David Soman's latest, How To Two (Dial Books, 2019), which, cleverly disguised as a counting book, is also a delightful dissertation on how each new child in free play helps the group morph into different games. And the number fun is not over, as in two double-page spreads, parents and grandparents converge to take each one back home, where the little boy in the red cap and his mom become a cozy TWO at story time.

Soman's artwork, celebrated for his part in the popular Ladybug Girl series, shines here as he creates a diverse, but charmingly individualized group of children doing what they do best--play--devising a series of pick-up games in their small park that goes up to ten and down again. Soman works his illustrative magic as each new prospective playmate appears, foreshadowing just what is going to happen next, making this new easy-to-read picture book the kind kids will come back to over and over again, long after they've mastered counting. "No two ways about it--this one is a delight." raves Kirkus Reviews.

Vamos a Contar! One Is A Pinata! by Roseanne Greenfield Thong

One is a rainbow.
One is a cake.
One is a pinata
that is ready to break!

One thing we can count on is that everybody loves a party, especially when there's a pinata waiting at the end of the fun.

But before we get the surprises hidden inside the pinata, there are duo of maracas to shake and a pair of zapatos (shoes) for happy feet. There's a game for two and sonrisos (smiles) abound when the ice cream cones come around.

And it's not a party without at least tres barbujos (three balloons) to pop. There are goodies to eat with cocoa and kites (cometas) to be flown, salsa to snack on and fruity aguas (drinks) and frutas on a stick, and if there is a rain shower, you can count on nine paraguas (umbrellas) to go around and a puddle for everyone.

How many candles (velas) are there to celebrate the fiesta? Ten, my friend, for you, diez para tu'!

And for those tired out by the fiesta, there are plenty of yawns and somnolent siesta!

There are so many numbers,
we love to contar,
From uno to diez,
Can you count that far?

In Roseanne Greenfield Thong's brand-new bilingual counting book, One Is a Piñata: A Book of Numbers (Chronicle Books, 2019), the author's rhyming text teaches a bit of Spanish vocabulary, while award-winning artist John Parra provides just the right number of items on each brightly-colored spread filled with young party-goers to associate with the number.

"An obvious choice for any picture book collection, this book teaches counting skills and new words while celebrating Hispanic and Latinx culture," says School Library Journal.

Follow the Butterflies! Ten Magic Butterflies by Danica McKellar

Once upon a time, there were ten flower friends.

They loved being flowers, but they couldn't deny
that they had a secret desire to fly!

They couldn't help noticing the fairies who flew about their garden, not moored to the ground, but flitting about in the air freely. At last one brave flower, weary with being a stick-in-the-mud, asks a friendly fairy what to do.

"Time to get ready for a big surprise!" said the fairy.

And as fast as she could say BOO, the flower was one butterfly--and she was blue!

And we're off on another of Danica McKellar's board books for toddler mathematicians, a concept book which combines mini-lessons in counting and colors for tots. Little girls in particular love butterflies: they're easy to draw and they come in almost any color available in their crayon boxes, and author McKellar, famous for her advocacy of mathematics for girls, makes good use of this popular image to teach numeration.

With the artwork of Jennifer Bricking, one by one, the flowers magically become butterflies of different colors and fill the air in the garden, in McKellar's third counting book in her board book trilogy, Ten Magic Butterflies (Crown Books, 2018). It's a sunny, funny way to begin math lessons, with a tempting message that mathematics has its own special magic, and kids can count on McKellar to give it wings.

Says Booklist, "A similarly simple, quiet feel as Margaret Wise Brown's iconic Goodnight Moon... there is a lot to count on."

Danica McKellar's earlier best-selling counting books include Bathtime Mathtime and Goodnight, Numbers (see McKellar's math book reviews here)

They're Not Just For Fish Bait Anymore! I Can Only Draw Worms by Will Mabbitt

What do you do when you want to make a picture book but you're not that good at drawing pictures?

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT WORMS (I CAN ONLY DRAW WORMS)

Here's ONE worm.

But when our artist draws TWO worms, it's hard to tell Worm One from Worm Two.

So he gives Worm TWO glasses. Who knew he could draw glasses?

Now what to do? Worm THREE looks just like Worm ONE!

Hey, WAIT! How about making Worm THREE yellow! Our novice artist is on a roll!

But worms are hard to control (like herding cats). Worm FOUR tries to take over the action, and Worm FIVE is looking a little under the weather.

And Worm SIX insists that he must ride on a flying unicorn.

I CAN'T DRAW FLYING UNICORNS!

But where there's a Will (Mabbitt), there's a way, in Mabbitt's just published I Can Only Draw Worms (Penguin/Random House, 2019), a counting book that gets the counting lesson done with such glorious and resourceful silliness that preschoolers will be reaching for their crayons and creating their very own worm counting books. Mabbitt manages to get plenty of attention with changes in page color (pink worms look especially lovely against a black background), while kids will get a giggle at how the artist creatively solves his unicorn block and learn to count with this new numbers book which is not at all creepy-crawly.

Up and Down, All Around: A Parade of Elephants by Kevin Henkes

LOOK!

It's lines of parading pastel pachyderms, papas, mamas, and petite baby elephants, five in each panel.

What are they doing?

They parade on each panel, left to right, trunks up, right to left, trunks mostly down, and left to right again, on each page.

BIG AND ROUND AND ROUND THEY ARE.

ROUND AND ROUND AND ROUND THEY GO.

The elephants enter a cave-like tunnel. In they go and out they come, holding onto each other's tails to find their way.

The elephants parade all day until night is near. YAWN! They trumpet up good night stars and get ready to sleep under them, all five curled up together.

Kevin Henkes' A Parade of Elephants (HarperCollins, 2018) is the perfect pachyderm parade for the nursery school set, always five elephants, always in a line, demonstrating up and down, in and out, back and forth, and all those directional concept words that little ones need to describe their world.

Kevin Henkes, one of the few creators of children's books to have won both Newbery and Caldecott Awards for insightful novels and brilliantly illustrated picture books, gives us inviting, slightly smudgy blackline illustrations filled in with lightly shaded pastel watercolors of elephants marching, marching, marching, through panels on each page to the music of his simple narration, right into a snuggled bedtime under a starry sky of their own creation." Says Publishers Weekly, "With clear, bold type sized for puzzling out letters, this spare offering will appeal to preschoolers who, like the elephants, are settling down to their starry sleep." "A must purchase for all libraries," School Library Journal adds in their starred review.

Counting: Ten Little Kisses by Taylor Garland

No, nobody has to kiss a pig (except this lovable pink-nosed porker,) but it's always fun to see baby critters play in the sun and curl up for a cozy bedtime kiss.

Three cozy lions frolic freely around their sleepy family. Four fluffy kitties take turns grooming each other, while five piglets get bliss just from an oink and a kiss.

Six little chimps love to be silly, while seven gentle elephants tie their trunks into a love knot to show they love each other a lot.

Eight graceful giraffes can kiss at great height. But nine bunnies kiss in their burrows at night.

Ten penguins prefer hugs at the zoo.

No matter how many cute critters you can see, there are always hugs--for you, baby, from me!

Taylor Garland counts the ways to say I Love You in 10 Little Kisses (Little, Brown and Company, 2018), an appealing board book for preschoolers which teaches animal names along with counting skills, illustrated by affectionate animal photos.

Up to Ten and Down Again! One Snowy Day by Diane Murray and Diana Toledano

Spinning and twirling,
They float to the ground.
Millions of snowflakes
Not making a sound.

The house is still sleeping, but the soundless flakes do not go undiscovered. ONE puppy is up, peers outside, and wakes the children with a sharp bark.

TWO sleepy children see the snow covering their trees, and THREE happy faces can be seen in the window.

The kids soon shuck off their pajamas and suit up for  play in the snow, finding their FOUR snow boots by the door.

FIVE pine trees' branches sweep low, and the children spot SIX friends already on the hill, and soon SEVEN sleds are sliding down, leaving EIGHT tracks behind them, and then...

WOOSH!
In a snow bank billow,
Carving NINE snow angels
Swishing in snow.

The kids even let their puppy get into the fun, tossing TEN snowballs for the pup to try to catch.

By this time the youngsters are ready to turn toward home, and it's time to reverse the count, right down to the TWO cups of hot cocoa and ONE perfect snowman, standing tall in the twilight as the soft flakes continue to fall, in One Snowy Day (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2018) by Diane Murray and Diana Toledano. It's a perfect snowy day and a chance to practice counting up and down, along with some delightfully rhyming text and cheery illustrations. With a tip of the hat to Ezra Jack Keats classic story, The Snowy Day, Kirkus Reviews says, "The delights of snow-day snow-play in a small town are enumerated in this early concept book for tots."

Concepts A-Board! Numbers Colors Shapes by Roger Priddy

ONE BOAT

TWO RABBITS

THREE BEARS

FOUR DINOSAURS

It's a counting book, counting up to TEN (count 'em) FISH!

But turn the next page and... there are all kinds of colored things! There is an ORANGE carrot and a parrot... and more. And then comes YELLOW ducklings, one banana, and a lemon! And don't forget good old GREEN--leaves, frogs, and grapes. And iconic colors are included: there are PINK flamingos and piglets and BLUE skies and socks!

And then it is time to move on to some basic shapes--squares (like a sandwich) and circles, of course, and then ovals (cf. an egg), stars and diamonds (like a kite).

But there's more than the those standard concepts in Roger Priddy's top-selling padded board book for preschoolers, Numbers Colors Shapes (First 100) (St. Martin's Press/Priddy Books).  Priddy even takes on emotions and feelings, giving a name to youngsters for SAD, HAPPY, HOT,  and COLD .  The author even ventures into concepts such as TIME and PLACE, rounding out this popular concept and vocabulary-building little board book, mixing colorful illustrations and photographs, making this one a concept book that grows from crib to Kindergarten days, especially if bundled with Priddy's hit First 100 companion books, First 100 Words and First 100 Animals.

Count 'Em! Ten Little Pumpkins by Rosie Greening

TEN Little Pumpkins are growing in a line,

Then the farmer picks one, and that leaves...

NINE!

But these ten pumpkins don't seem to want to go to market!

What's a poor farmer to do, with a patch of persnickety pumpkins who seem to want to bounce, roll, and jump away on their own merry way?

These clever little pumpkins conspire to escape from the farmer's crate. One hitches a ride on a horsey, and another pumpkin performs a magic trick and makes himself disappear. A spooky ghost grabs one, a scary skeleton snatches another, and... soon they're all gone....

But not for long. After all, little pumpkins just want their chance to shine, and they are not about to miss their big scene...

Glowing all together on the night of Halloween!

Rosie Greening's new version of that staple fall counting book, Ten Little Pumpkins (Make Believe Ideas, 2018) has a few special touches that set it apart from the others, from the shiny black background which sets off Lara Ede's bright personalized pumpkins right down to the sparkly and trendy reversing sequins that allow the golden pumpkin on the cover to change from a carved face to one that spells out BOO! Jaunty illustrations and a rhyming countdown that begs to be sung makes this new holiday number book more than just another pretty pumpkin face in the crowd!

Spooky Treat: Five Silly Ghosts illustrated by Hilli Kushnir

Oh, dear! Who's that on brooms--high up in the air?

"BOO! I DON'T CARE!"

Little ghosts drift through the darkening sky. A big yellow moon rises high, and the small spirits seem to be all in costume--one with eyepatch and pirate hat, one with a red clown nose, one as a princess with crown and scepter, one in a tall black witch's hat, and one masked as a cat.

Little witches zoom, astride a broom.

But what are these fearless little specters up to?

These little ghosties are not scared. They are prepared--each one with a bright bag, a cauldron, or a plastic pumpkin. What do they want?

Treats and some fun for everyone!

It's a proper jolly All Hallow's Eve with black cats and black bats. And when the wind goes whooooo! and blows out the candles' light, with a bit of a fright the five silly ghosts decide to call it a night!

The scary season is coming soon, and we can count on some version of this jolly rhyming counting song to make an appearance to prepare youngsters for the fun and frivolities of the Halloween holiday season. This same counting rhyme appears in many versions--with five little pumpkins, five little goblins, five little black cats, et al--the characters change, but the rhythmic folk song format remains pretty much the same, with a bit of counting skills for toddlers and a lot of fun for youngsters to sing together.

In this brand new board book version, artist Hilli Kushner gives us sparkly little ghosts out for a bit of trick-or-treating on diecut pages that picture what's come before and preview what's coming next as cues for emergent readers in Five Silly Ghosts (board book) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), in a fun read-along that every little would-be spook should share in the spooky season.

Our Space Place! I LOVE the Earth by Todd Parr

How do I love the Earth?

Let me count the ways.

There is a lot to love--trees, fish, polar bears, snowman that don't melt too soon, walking shoeless in soft new grass, seeing the stars come out.

I LOVE THE EARTH AND I WANT ALL, ALL, TO BE SAFE ALL AROUND THE WORLD.

In Todd Parr's I Love the Earth (Little, Brown and Company, 2018), kids can count up ten ways they themselves can begin to take care of the earth and all upon it.

There are simple things that a child can do any day, from turning off lights when they leave a room, being nice to worms, planting trees, using both sides of a piece of paper, and making sure the refrigerator door is closed.

Todd Parr's positive and exuberant books for preschoolers share a comfortable hand-feel with jolly and inviting childlike black-line illustrations and bright primary colors, with a heartfelt appreciation for what kids themselves can do to help keep life on earth livable. Some of Parr's favorite simple concept books include The Family Book, The Peace Book, The Feelings Book, and The Goodbye Book.

Strike Up The Band! Pete The Cat: The Petes Go Marching by James Dean

THE PETES GO MARCHING ONE BY ONE.

THE GROOVY ONE STOPS TO GET SOME SUN.

AND THEY ALL GO MARCHING DOWN TO TOWN.

It's time for a high-stepping band of brothers, The Petes, to strike up their own musical band. Pete himself, walkin' in his red shoes, brings his guitar, and as he marches, he picks up more and more Petes, one with a drum, one with a tambourine. A quick stop at the music shop adds to the Petes in the band, and even the falling raindrops do not deter the parading Petes.

THE PETES GO MARCHING SIX BY SIX.THE GROOVY ONE STOPS TO PICK UP STICKS!

(Drumsticks, that is!)

Adding Petes and new instruments until there are ten along the way, the marching Petes board the Tour Bus and arrive at the venue with a big sign,

CONCERT TONIGHT!
PETE THE CAT AND HIS BAND!

Pete and his bandmates march downtown and rock out in the rain at the bandstand, in James Dean's reworking of the old nursery song, "The Ants Go Marching," in Pete the Cat: The Petes Go Marching (Harper, 2018).  There are plenty of Pete repeats in illustration and text, replete with different colors of sneakers, for all the young Pete fans to practice their counting (and multiplication!) in this latest in the author-illustrator Dean's long series for the preschool and primary set, which combines rhythm, rhyme, reading, and 'rithmetic in a jolly singalong.

There's A Mouse In The House! Merry Christmas, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond

'Twas the days before Christmas and all through the house,

A tree is being decked, and it's done by a mouse!

With apologies to Clement Clark Moore, there IS one mouse who is stirring, and he's on the job decorating the Christmas tree.

But that's not his only job! Mouse is teaching counting, from one up to ten!

Mouse is a top-down decorator, so the first thing that goes up on the tippy-top of the tree is the star. Then there are two mice angels, a trio of lacy snowflakes, four running reindeer (where did Comet, Cupid, and the rest fly to?), and five snow fellows. Then Mouse reaches for six toy soldiers, and seven toy robots, followed by the traditional elfin helpers, nine mittens (That's 4 1/2 pairs. Did one little kitten lose her mitten?). And then Mouse adds ten more.. silver bells? gingerbread men? lords a-leaping?

What ARE the final ten ornaments Mouse adds in Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond's fat little board book for the youngest tree-trimmer? In their classic Christmas counting book,Merry Christmas, Mouse! (If You Give...) (Harper Festival, 2017, 2007), there are a few surprises to add to the fun for the youngest among us for holiday learning and fun that may inspire some counting practice on your own Yuletide tree or may make its appearance as a surprise stocking stuffer.