One North Star: A Counting Book

Five toads hop, four brook trout swim, three elk graze, two loons call, and one beaver gnaws on a paper birch tree, all under one North Star. Through bog and marsh, along river and lake, across prairie and into the woods, children learn what lives where by counting the creatures on foot or in flight, swimming or perching in exquisite woodcut and watercolor illustrations created by Beckie Prange and Betsy Bowen in an artistic collaboration. For those looking for more about the pictured wildlife, Phyllis Root includes fascinating facts and information on the state’s ecosystems and the plants and animals that make their homes there.

Phyllis Root is the author of more than forty books, most of them picture books. She received a McKnight Fellowship for Lucia and the Light; Aunt Nancy and Old Man Trouble won a Minnesota Picture Book award; Big Momma Makes the World won a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award; and Plant a Pocket of Prairie (Minnesota, 2014) won a John Burroughs Riverby Award. She lives in Minneapolis.

Beckie Prange is a biologist and printmaker who has illustrated two previous books, the Caldecott Honor winner Song of the Water Boatman and Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors. She lives in Ely, Minnesota.

Betsy Bowen is author and illustrator of many children’s books, including Plant a Pocket of Prairie and The Lost Forest, both published by the University of Minnesota Press. She is winner of the 2026 Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota's Kerlan Collection of Children's Literature. She lives in Grand Marais, Minnesota.