Counting Rhymes

Traditional nursery rhymes, lively riddles, and contemporary verses by well-known poets teach children to count forward and backward, add, and subtract while being entertained.

Smartly photographed children seem to leap off the pages of this handsomely designed, oversize volume, a voyage into the realm of verse for the very young. The young models, festively costumed, act out nursery rhymes which center on counting or numbers. The entries run the gamut from tried-and-true verse ("One, Two, Buckle My Shoe"; "This Old Man"; "There Were Five in the Bed") to newer, less familiar poems and ditties (not all of which rhyme, despite the book's title). Though some of the more recent pieces fall flat when read aloud, the unflaggingly high caliber and plenitude of the photographs more than compensate. Overall, the book provides ample entertainment for preschoolers, who will be kept busy with fingerplay, singing and, of course, counting. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In the publisher's signature format--color-photo cutouts on white--25 rhymes, all but five traditional, though not all familiar. The first ten introduce numbers, in order; others concern time (Causley's ``Twenty-four Hours'' objectifies each hour: ``Seven, and the children/Are bathed and in bed;/Eight, Dad is snoozing/The paper unread''); counting up, and down (``There were five in the bed...''); or arithmetic concepts; or they simply celebrate a number (``Engine, engine, number nine...''). The photos of costumed children are cheery and bright, though occasionally there's a lapse in depicting the number concept (it's not possible to see all four wheels on a toy truck whose wheels are supposed to exemplify ``four''; only seven of the cats, kits, etc., of the wives en route to St. Ives are shown). Still, an inviting oversize book, with an appealing selection of rhymes. (Picture book. 2-7) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.