Anno's Counting Book

Anno's Counting Book is unlike any other I've seen. It's not boring, or glib, or hit-you-over-the-head obvious. The book begins with zero's barren snow-covered landscape. Each page finds more people, trees, or buildings arriving on the land as settles build up the town. Spring arrives with "three"

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and the town continues to bloom. By "seven" (July), the little village is in the full swing of summer with its seven pines, seven buildings, seven chimneys, seven children, seven adults, seven cows, seven colors of the rainbow, seven sheets line-drying in the summer breeze, etc. The numbers go up through twelve (December), each page showing not just things to count but the progression of the seasons and village life. (ages 2-7)

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Picture book that uses pictures to teach numbers. Numbers and pictures were used to tell the story. As the reader progresses through the book they go from zero to twelve and with each number there is a picture representing the number.

Although there weren’t any words in this book, I found that it

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took a lot longer for me to finish than most of the other picture books I have been reading. For each page I was counting the different elements of the pictures to see how many different things I found that matched the number. As the numbers got larger, the time on the clock changed as well.

As a teacher this would be a good book for students who are learning how to count. The pictures should help students to grasp the concept that numbers are representative of objects.

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This is an ALA Notable Children's Book that can teach children their numbers and one-to-one correspondence. Not only does it count on each page, but it starts with the month of January and works it's way to December. The picture actually stays the same but with each page things are added. It's

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really quite fun to look at this book and count all of the items on each page. I loved it!

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Sadly, this was my first reading of this wonderful book! I really enjoyed all that the author did to instill number association thru interesting landscapes. There are no words in this book, yet you do not miss them. The author uses his illustrations to show the progression of a commuity while also

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instilling a variety of number associations to the primary number being discussed. It is hard to catch all the details upon a first reading, such as the time on the clock being that of the number being taught or the number of trees and people being an exact number. It would be very fun for early preschoolers or early elementary students trying to learn about the progression of a community. This was a very fun book that I would recommed highly!

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This book shows a scene through the seasons. Each season brings a number of activities. There are many ways on each page to count to the number being showcases. For #1 there is 1 bird, 1 skier, 1 house, etc. For #10 there are 10 kids playing, 10 barrels, 10 trees, 10 adults, 10 buildings, etc. Also

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a stacking of blocks keeps up the count. The end talks a little about the history of counting.

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Great book to introduce numbers and other concepts. This is actually one of the books used in our ELL curriculum. When we use it with our students not only do we use it to teach numbers but we also use it to give the students an opportunity to talk and build their oral fluency in English.

This book by Mitsumasa Anno is a great little treasure. According to his authors note Mitsumasa has always been fascinated with beauty and the mathematical world, and this reveals itself through the format of his book. There are not words only numbers and he basically takes the same picture of farm

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land and enhances it as the numbers go from 12. There are correspondence with the numbers, like for three there will be three houses. A gentle water color sketched is used for the back ground and as the season progresses the picture changes. Its a very fascinating books.

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There is nothing average or simple about this counting book by award winning author/illustrator, Mitsumasa Anno. Cleverly he takes the reader through to the number 12 in order to visit the times of day and the turning of the seasons. But none of the pages are as simple as they seem on first glance.

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Repeat readings of this book will show you the very many different ways Anno considers the numbers, one to one correspondence, grouping, scales, and more. All done through the visual description of everyday living. This book begs to be enjoyed over and over again by readers of all ages.

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Great book to introduce numbers and other concepts.

I liked the pictures in this book a lot, and it was fun to see the empty valley grow into a cute little town. I liked how it wasn't very obvious that each item corresponded to the number on the page. It would be fun to read this book with a child, and have them help to spot the different things

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that matched the number on the page.

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This book is great for teaching children counting. Because it is wordless it is great for telling a story with each page adding a new building that teaches number sequence.

Absolutely beautiful way to learn about numbers. The illustrations are lovely and it is fun to see how the scenes change from one number to the next and from one season to the next. Multiple layers of learning can be seen in this book.

Anno, Mitsumasa. Anno's Counting Book. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1977. This book has cute, petite drawings that tell a story about a growing town. It doesn't have text only numbers and counting blocks on the margins. The setting takes place in a little country town. Kids can count how

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many new things are added to the picture that match the number being counted. It is a little dated but charming. Age group:3-5 years.

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This book is great for all ages. You can count but also watch a small village grow throughout different seasons. It is obvious that a lot of thought was put into creating this. Every time I read it I find a whole other connection and set that relate to the numbers.

summary: Each page you turn you see a new number, 0-12. You see what the town looks like in each month and how it grows and changes with the seasons.

classroom connection: It's an easy way for children to see and count the numbers but also visually see how things can change with time.

I enjoyed the beautiful illustrations in this book. I like the fact that the number of things in each page corresponds to the number represented and I like the visual representation of cubes. My only suggestion would be to add the number word on each page as well so that students can learn to

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recognize each number word.

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I looked into this book because it was mentioned in the text, Children's Literature, Briefly. I liked how the author included zero and also that on each page the picture corresponds to the number being represented in may different ways. The first page, for zero, has an empty landscape on it. The

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second page, for one, has one building, one snowman, one bird, one adult, one child, one dog, etc. on it. The book also counts up to twelve instead of stopping at ten like many other counting books. One other thing that I really liked about this book was the way that it also connects the concepts of time (twelve numbers on the clock and the time on the clock corresponds to the number being represented) and the months of the year (the page for twelve shows a Christmas tree and a winter landscape as it would appear in the twelfth month, December).

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Summary:
This book goes over counting by using objects to represent each number on certain pages. The book counts to 12 and on each page it will have a number and all the objects on that page will all have the number that is on the page. If there is 2 tress, then there will be 2 kids, 2 houses, and

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2 of everything else.

Reflection:
This book was really cool because it is an easy way to learn to count by using objects. For some kids, this may be an easier way to learn to count because the see objects by numbers. I thought it was cool that the book used a town when using objects. As the numbers got larger, the more the town grew in size. The pictures seemed outdated, but still a very fun book to read and would be great to read to younger children.

1) Have the students pick a number and make a picture with objects that add up to that number.
2) Have the students start on a counting competition to see who can count the highest

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In thinking of a counting book, I didn't consider the importance of going beyond the number ten. I liked the variety of objects and illustrations.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, Anno’s Counting Book is well worth the time invested. The book is simple and contains illustrations for the 13 numbers included. The book starts with the number zero and a picture of an empty field. The next page has one house, one squirrel, one snowman,

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and one bird amongst other representations of one. The next page, you guessed it, contains images of two (two trucks, two houses, two rabbits, two children). The book continues to multiply the subjects all the way through the number twelve. There are no words on these pages, only illustrations.

There is a lot more to this book than meets the eye. It was not until the number twelve that I saw the snow and realized each number was a representation of a month. As the months progress a simple empty field turns into a bustling community. Blocks on the left of the page begin to be colored in as the numbers progress. The boxes even turn into columns after the number ten; representing the base-ten place value that we use. This is much more involved than most young adolescents would pick up on, but it fits my theory that all good books have something for all ages. The author’s note in the back gives adults more to think about. Anno explains a reason for counting, a possible history of counting, and why today’s number system is superior to counting long ago.

This book is timeless.

I just read that Mitsumasa Anno lives in the suburbs of Tokyo will be 88 years-old in a few days. I can picture him and I sitting outside in a garden, sipping tea, painting, and philosophizing about numbers.

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This book was so fun and exciting. The story really made me think. Although it didn't have any words but only numbers, I was able to say so much about it. Each page has a different number all the way up to twelve. Every page changes by number. I think this story would be great for younger children

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who are beginning to count. I think they would enjoy the large numbers and pictures.

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I loved this book. I had no words. The pictures spoke for themselves. It is a cute math book for kindergartens. My favorite part is that as you go through the book and different numbers, the seasons change in the pictures. For example, on the 5 page you can see items referring to the month of May

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and the spring time. On the page representing the number 12, it is back to the winter time. There is even a Christmas Tree and Santa Claus on the page. It is really cute.

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One of my favorite books to teach counting. Very subtle, beginning with the concept of zero - a picture of an empty snowy field) and then adding images that children can count as a town is built. Counts 1-12. Good for Pre-K - 1st grade.

"Every child is a natural mathematician", says Mitsumasa Anno. As children compare and classify things around them, they are bringing order to what they see and are actually doing basic math. This book introduced numbers and counting. Watercolor pictures add to the concepts.