Easter Babies: A Springtime Counting Book

PreS—Each digital and oil illustration of a farm animal is accompanied by one sentence of rhyming text with the appropriate numeral set in blue. "1 newborn foal gets to his feet/to walk on wobbly legs./2 brooding hens sit quite content/to hatch their nests of eggs." The concluding couplet, "In churches all around the town/12 Easter bells are ringing/… to celebrate the signs that spring/has brought new life to everything," is the only mention of the Christian holiday. The sweet, pastel spreads portray softly rounded animals with gentle faces in an idyllic country setting. However, Doreen Cronin's amusing Click Clack Splish Splash: A Counting Adventure (S & S) and Rebecca Fjelland Davis's educational Flowers and Showers: A Spring Counting Book (Capstone, both 2006) have more child appeal.—Linda L. Walkins, Mount Saint Joseph Academy, Brighton, MA
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Spring’s renewal is represented by the newborns that appear during the season. There are plenty of babies to admire in this offering from the team that created Stable in Bethlehem: A Christmas Counting Book (2007). Adorable animals, from a wobbly foal to frisky lambs, provide lots of opportunities to count. The illustrations are rendered in soft, earthy hues that convey the sense of a season just waking up, while flashes of color—baby-blue egg shells, painted Easter eggs—promise bright days to come. This is a book that encourages sharing, preferably in a cozy chair. Preschool. --Kara Dean