Ten Little Babies: 2

One by one, ten little babies leave friends they have been playing with in this counting rhyme.

PreSchool-- Ten chubby, multiethnic babies are featured in this lively counting book. Each page shows the children engaged in a typical toddler activity such as sitting in strollers, a sandbox, or a bathtub; playing with pans; banging on a door; and eating. On the right-hand page is a flap with a large numeral corresponding to the number of babies in the illustration. When the flap is lifted, one baby is shown leaving the fun. The initial crowd is slowly reduced in the countdown to one sleepy tot off to bed. The rhymed text is smooth and has a satisfying lilt. Each bright colored-pencil drawing is framed by a different colored line that matches the hue of the featured numeral. The illustrations use varied perspectives and have lots of white space. Kopper is adept at catching the various expressions and motions of toddlers. Libraries looking for materials for the very youngest can count on this one. --Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha Public Library, WI
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Though this assemblage dwindles as rapidly as Agatha Christie's Indians, her brood can't hold a candle to these tykes for frenetic charm. On each spread, a minor problem disturbs the juvenile antics, and one member of the group drops out. Romping in a sandbox are "Eight happy babies, in a sandy heaven. One lost her shovel. . . and then there were seven" (though one may wonder why this loss, and some of the other "crises," cause the players to disappear). On a flap of each right-hand page, a large numeral indicates the number of youngsters and then folds out to reveal "the rest of the story." Kopper's pastel drawings give these multicultural moppets distinct characterizations, and her choices of wardrobe and props are nearly as amusing as the babies themselves. This simple verse is a pleasant twist on the multitudinous counting books, one to which toddlers will easily relate. Ages 1-3.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.