The One and Only 1, 2, 3 Book

PreS-Gr 2—Jittery, cartoon illustrations and lots of white space bring this chaotic, funny counting book to life, starting with proud number one showing off his "Number 1" trophy cup. Unfortunately, his confident smile starts to fall on the very next page when number two shows up with two shoes. A new numeral joins in with each page turn, bringing a collection of the appropriate number of things along (cows, coffees, elephants, airplanes…). Just as things start getting really crowded, a lowercase letter "a" shows up for comic relief: "Is this the alphabet book?" Upon the arrival of number 10 and his 10 dancing frogs, frustrated number one grabs his cup and heads for a clean page, but just as he gets comfortable, that pesky letter "a" is back with 10 other letters trooping across the spread behind him: "Is this the alphabet book?" All the numbers and letters are full of energy and personality, making for entertaining forays into counting and storytelling.—Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA