The Complete Book of Time and Money, Grades K-3 Book

Title: How Many Snails? A counting book

Author: Paul Giganti

Illustrator: Donald Crews

Genre: Counting Book

Theme(s): Numbers, Animals, Counting

Opening line/sentence: "I went walking and I wondered: How many clouds were there?"

Brief Book Summary: This book is a counting book that travels to different places. It uses counting to help tell the stories. Some of the places traveled were the ocean and counting starfish, the garden and counting snails, the toy store and counting trucks. It not only counts the number of each thing but it counts different qualities about the things. For example, not only do they count the starfish, but also they question how many legs the starfish all have. This is a very unique counting book.

Professional Recommendation/Review #1:
CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 1988)
Precision in language use as well as in the counting of details is encouraged by questions such as ". . . how many clouds were big and fluffy? abig and fluffy and gray?" Color and pattern recognition, and similarity and difference can also be explored as children examine ten categories of brightly colored objects designed on double-page spreads especially for these purposes. CCBC Category: Concept Books. 1988, Greenwillow, 28 pages., $11.88. Ages 2-7.
(PUBLISHER: Greenwillow Books (New York:), PUBLISHED: c1988.)

Professional Recommendation/Review #2:
C. Henebry
This is a great value for a book combining both counting and also finding similarities and differences in a concept format. Your eager young scholar will delight in pointing out like objects and counting them. Big brother or sister will enjoy reading and teaching a younger sibling these concepts. 1994, Mulberry Paperback Book, $4.95. Ages 3 mo. to 8.
(PUBLISHER: Mulberry Paperback Book (New York:), PUBLISHED: 1994
Response to Two Professional Reviews: These reviews pinpoint why I enjoyed this counting book over others. Not only does it count, it compares the similarities and differences in the format. Pictures help with the counting and I really like how these reviews acknowledges that. It does encourage great counting questions as well.

Evaluation of Literary Elements: Great use of illustrations to help enhance the counting. Overall, the text was simple but also made the reader think. Not only were counting the obvious, but we were counting the details in the illustration too. The book has a great use of repetition and keeps reader wanting to see what is next to count.

Consideration of Instructional Application: Elementary schools can use this book to introduce numbers. Since we are counting, any math lesson could go along with this book. It is a fun easy way to learn how to count and use numbers. Also, kids can learn how to focus on illustrations to pay close attention to details in drawings.