Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Great children's book -- counting and more

I plan to do longer lists in the future, but I ran across a book at the library today that I've checked out before and love.

Swan Harbor, A Nature Counting Book by Laura Rankin. This is a beautiful picture book but its more than merely a counting book. The illustrations are detailed and the setting is lovely. What I really like about this book is that, in addition to counting, it takes you through the seasons of the year, so there are plenty of details to notice and discuss. Also, one quickly notices that as the pages progress, a hint of the next picture is given. For example, one sees a bird flying to a nest in a tree, 2 shows the baby birds in the nest in the tree and you can see a squirrel peaking out. For 3, you see 3 squirrels, and so on. There is probably a term that succiently describes this...I'll have to look for it. Alison Jay also does this in some of her picture books -- there is an alphabet book, I'm thinking of specifically....

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