When it comes to back-to-school season, ABC books (also called abecedaries) tend to dominate the scene. I get it. If you're starting the school year, you're most likely gearing up to talk about the alphabet and learn about all the different letters. But something almost as fun as letters is numbers. If back to school makes you think about counting 123, then here are some awesome counting books for you!
Written by Caspar Salmon
Illustrated by Matt Hunt
Lincoln, MA: Nosy Crow Inc., 2023. Picture Book.
Do you think that you're so smart? Do you think that you can count all the numbers really high? That's great, but this book only wants you to count to one. We are just mastering counting to one. Of course, you could always try to outsmart the book. But who would want to do that? This is a very fun and goofy interactive book that will have older kids dying to practice their counting -- well past the number one.
By Emily Gravett
London: Boxer Books, Ltd., 2023. Picture Book.
Nine playful kittens, and their one sleeping mama, get caught up in a color-mixing, counting adventure. As mama naps, the mischievous kittens find cans of primary-color paint and the ten kittens are soon covered in red spots, yellow spots, and blue spots. And before long, in green, orange, and purple splats. Light on text, this book effectively teaches counting and color mixing with illustrations that are a delight to study and that are reminiscent of classic children's books.
Written by David LaRochelle
Illustrated by Lian Cho
New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2023. Picture Book.
For readers ready to go a step beyond counting, this hilarious picture book includes subtracting and adding dragons from our 100 dragon total. As we follow our 100 dragons -- all named Broccoli -- on their wild and crazy adventures, made possible by hilarious illustrations, we are also sneakily subtracting and adding to get back to our 100 dragons. Silly but entertaining, perfect to challenge the belief that math is boring.
By Susie Ghahremani
New York: Abrams Appleseed, 2017. Picture Book.
Still ready to go beyond counting 1 to 10? In this unendingly cute picture book, simple text helps us to count and stack a group of adorably cute cats. At first, we're counting as our cats are stacking, until a stack of more than three becomes unstable -- and the cats figure out other ways to count and stack. A darling little counting book, perfect for cat lovers or anyone else.
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