Quick Things You Need To Know:
- Our family is arithmetically inclined (my partner and I met in engineering school), so we never focused much on counting/numbers books because counting is just a part of our…day. But these are the ones I’ve come across, a few of which we’ve enjoyed.
- Why are almost all counting board books so freaking boring? don’t authors realize that adults have to read them over and over and over and over? They are SO BORING.
- Most of the books that we enjoyed were bilingual (because otherwise why bother?) I don’t need a book to teach my kids how to count to ten a language me and all the adults around them speak. Silly.
- The fact that all counting board books default to positive numbers in base 10 makes me think maybe there is a CONSPIRACY AFOOT! This is kind of a joke but also kind of not?
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Quick & Messy Book List:
Board Books – Recommended & Acceptable
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Kiss by Kiss / Ocêtôwina (Van Camp) – SO GOOD. real photos of families, perfect for babies. normalizes BIPOC families. Bilingual (Plains Cree / English)
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Baby Goes To Market (Atinuke) – board book, only counts to like..5ish I think? SO cute. Africa (Nigeria), #OwnVoices Black women makers
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We All Count (Flett) – Animals indigenous to northern turtle island & bilingual (English, Cree), forgettable but glad it exists. indigenous
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gordon & lili count in mandarin – We prefer ‘words for everyday’ as a family favorite, so this one pales (as do all counting books in general) in comparison but is still a fine book. bilingual (mandarin & english)
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one big pair of underwear (Gehl) – cute counting book with funny rhymes (fun to read out loud) and shows x of something x+1 of people who want it, and how the one left out is sad. then someone realizes they can share and set an example. i really liked this book. sharing. In the hardcover version, I’m not a fan of the book layout (left page shows results of previous page. right page shows items and users, flip the page to see the person left out) – loses continuity. R2 didn’t get it at 4, due to the loss in continuity, but Q enjoyed it for a couple reads. The story on sharing gets buried by that, plus the first example of sharing isn’t to take turns (20 pigs, 10 slides), also caveat for unsafe examples for littles – ride piggyback down the slide gave my kids BAD IDEAS. but i do like that the bears see that and run with the idea of sharing, and then everyone in the book ends up having a great time sharing all the things. hoping board book layout is better.
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Bus Stops (Gomi) – city bus. cute and fun board book, non-sequential counting. kids would enjoy counting the number of people who get off at each stop. it’s charming and sweet and a little funny, and would make a good gift or quiet bedtime story. Asian maker (native Japanese)
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Counting (DK Braille) – With reservations. See notes in unpolished list for vision disabilities
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Hush now banshee! (sullivan) counting book, monsters, board book but it’s so thick it’d be too heavy for a toddler to hold. kind of funny, but repetitive. cute how banshee is so loud (volume control/ communication disabilities), and her friends try to help her modulate her voice and she doesn’t get it but it’s okay, it’s implied they still accept her and will help her keep trying. but not worth getting again
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Countablock – franceschelli – has never been interesting to either kid at any age. seems cool, but once you get through the numbers – eh. it’s a counting book, and all of them are boring. also only goes up to 20 before suddenly counting by tens, which is confusing. 18m+ decent intro to to 2 digit numbers (goes up to 100). Q liked at 31m, but I don’t have the patience to read it to him so many times and he won’t read it independently. interactive books, board, age range: 6m-2y
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abigail– catherine rayner – very cute illustrations, simple for 3 and under. R2 is still having trouble counting at 3, so it’s good for him, plus he loves giraffes. boring to read though. abigail likes counting but nothing will stay still. her friends suggest flowers. yay. Can’t find a link to a board book but amazon claims there are 7 editionsand Rayner’s books are usually licensed for board books.
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tails – matthew van fleet – nice thick, sturdy tabs that hold up well. most items are attached with gears, so they are easy to fix when they get broken. the pull tabs are so sturdy they feel actively satisfying and reassuring to use and don’t bend, slide easily. a few touch & feel patces, it’s mostly a book about opposites “tails cool, tails hot, tails swishing – swat swat, swat!” one scratch & sniff patch, so best to buy new as library versions are worn. a couple flaps, cute and funny illustrations, animals, and the end encourages you to go though the book as a counting game, fixing X weasels, x pagolins, etc. very nice book that would be perfect as a gift. also good for phase when kids love butts
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One Happy tiger (Rayner) cute illustrations but not much else. counting book w/ animals. feelings (curious, sad, bouncy, smiling) no story.
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Ten, Nine, Eight (Bang) – This was Q & R2’s favorite since it was the only board book we could find back then featuring a grampa who looked like theirs. The kid (codes as a girl but could be nonbinary) also happens to have the same cat/toys, etc. so it was an easier sell for us than it might be for other families. Illustrations are outdated and gloopy. both kids loved the background details, such as the cat stealing a shoe
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10 little ladybugs – R2 loves at 3 that he can count (badly) and Q loves that he can ‘read’ the book in creative ways forwards and backwards with his own made-up rhymes. Update: R2 LOVES THIS ONE SO HARD and it’s the current fave at 3y2m. i’s not even the counting (although he loved that a few months ago) but how the ladybugs disappear and the device of one going with each page flip. interactive, cutouts
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Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? (Martin) – this is the only book I can stand by Eric Carle (likely because someone else wrote it). we love this, the LE wore it down to shreds.
Non-Board Books – Recommended & Acceptable
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Ten mice for tet – (shea). gorgeous – images are embroidered, not illustrated. lunar new year celebrations (Vietnamese). AAPI author? only reservations are that this isn’t in a board book and it’s not bilingual
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123 A Family Counting Book – combs – art is kinda blobby and neutral. nothing particularly interesting other than the normalizing diversity attempt. just counting“fifteen kite soaring in the sky” normalizing LGBTQ+, transracial, disabled, racial diversity, family constellations (compilations). NOT a board book.
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the 12 days of yule – rennie – christmas but not so much christmassy, more secular. this was SOOOOO GOOOD. all author’s proceeds go to “breast cancer now” glossary at the and helps us understand how to pronounce Scots numbers like “1” and “second” and a glossary for the fun words. when I got to “6 hootlets hootin” I died. laughed so hard with the kids i cried. we all thought it was so much fun (not sure if bilingual or just in Scots language? I know nothing about Scots) wonderful advent christmas (secular) and intro to scottish broque & culture, one of our favorite christmas books
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feast for 10- same author of rainbow stew. I liked rainbow stew beter. this one was counting, no story, they just go grocery shopping cook and eat diner together. everyone was exactly the same shade of brown, because, well, brown construction paper,normalizing POC, grandparents, elders, family constellations
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CAn’t sleep without sheep – hill – can’t remember if this is an actual counting book or she just keeps getting hung up on one. anyway, very cute and features asian protagonist (asian normalizing girls of color.) silly but forgettable. tries out different animals to count before bed and none work but sheep. no deeper story behind it so it’s not worth reading. AAPI illustrator
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tumble bumble (bond) – read 9/15. 1-4y very cute rhyme, simple book and a little bit of counting. forgettable.
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dig! (Zimmerman) – favorite for toddlerhood because of trucks, counting up to 2
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Counting chickens – polly alakija – another counting book (animals keep having babies). africa, but not sure where
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Catch that goat! – polly alakija – takes place in ibadan, nigeria. counting book. africa, Yoruba language
Beyond Counting in base 10 – Advanced Counting & Arithmetic
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Prime baby – yang – a little too subversive so I wasn’t delighted with all the discussions we had to have on how this kid is kinda a jerk, but we got through at at 5.5. he can’t stand his sister, then realizes she ‘gah’s’ in prime numbers, so thinks she’s an alien. then she pops out alien pods and the aliens are super nice, and he reports her and gets her locked up, then realizes she’s hte only one who likes him, so he fakes having a pod in his mouth and gets locked up too. uhh. graphic novels, math, siblings, ages 6+, snarky
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Wumbers – Rosethal – best for readers, wordplay with numbers inserted into text. meh.
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A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars – seth fishman – thought Q qould be into this, but something about it was a litle boring? Like, tells us how many stars are in teh sky, lights on the earth, stuff like that, in a cute way, but no story. worth getting for kids into big big big numbers, a cross between how many jelly beans and he wait but why article about how large space is, but less engaging. big numbers, solar system, space
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The rabbit problem – gravett – laid out like calendar with flaps, popups, holes, very interesting take on the rabbit (exponential power of 2) problem. easier for Q to grasp the one by demi, but maybe try this when he can read through books on his own, as the details would be tedious to parse during storytime. seems better for readers, lots of tiny details. 7+? interactive, big numbers, math
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count the monkeys – barnett – narrator wants to count the monkeys, but other animals keep getting in the way (we do count those instead). finally we get to the last page and there are no monkeys, but there are plenty on the flyleaf as a surprise to count. ages 3+, breaking the 4th wall. but why does a 3yo need a counting book?
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how many jelly beans simple, easy to understand for big-number 3 year olds or 4+ when kids start getting obsessed with BIIIG numbers. best book t visualize such large numbers. – i’ve seen it done with other books but this was the best one.
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katharyn otoshi- one and zero are good for 4y, two is over his yead with the number wordplay
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One – standing up to bullies, being the first, courage
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zero – otoshi – celebrating difference, numbers, art
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Two (Otoshi) – jealousy, interlopers in best friend group
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how much is a million- gives you quantities in terms of kids stacked on top of each other, etc. but ‘how many jelly beans’ was a lot easier to understand and fun to read
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the numberly’s- simple book best for preschoolers (kindergarten might be too old, although illustrations are cute enough to warrant one read for Q at 5). story of how the numberlys decide to create something new and interesting and make letters, which adds colors and flavor to the world.
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the crayons’ book of numbers- jeffers. abridged version of hte day the crayons quit (alludes to or re-makes the same jokes from the book). at 3, i think r2 would get most of hte jokes but i’d have to explain each one (not fun for me) and there’s no reason to use this one over hte origional for age 5 since that book was funnier. the only thing that makes this a ‘counting book’ is they include hte previos crayons in a row at the bottom with a number. this feels like a cash grab. NOPE.
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jack the builder – stuart murphy – 3+ building structures from plans, counting, envisioning final products from block buildings (imagination). counting, building structures from plans, envisioning things from what he builds, STEAM, utterly forgettable
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Billions of Bricks (Cyrus) – enjoyable rhyming read aloud. Q picked from Cside library in second grade, his librarian read it, I read it, then he read it. counting by 5’s, tens, 20’s, which tracks with his favorite songs for Nathan to sing to him at bedtime. Fun for a few reads, but not worth getting again. Adding to list of books he’s read – this was nice, since he volunteered and I didn’t have to twist his ear.
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1-2-3 peas (Baker) – sucks. can’t remember why. i just hate this series and it’s a constant disappointment
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have you seen my dragon?- Counting (1-20) rich illustrations for dragon activity bin but not very much fun to read aloud.
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ten apples up on top lesieg – boring counting book, nope.
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Captain Freddy counts down to school (Shreeve) unremarkable and boring
