My Very First Book of Numbers

Eric Carle doesn’t just list numbers with pictures for My Very First Numbers Book: this board book has two pages to turn for each number. The top portion of the book follows in numerical order, with digits and an appropriate number of squares. The bottom portion of the book has illustrations of fruits, with each page showing a different number. The idea is to match the number on top with the correct number of fruit pictured on the bottom. I like Eric Carle’s illustrations and I love the concept of learning the numbers by practicing. My son is still too young to really grasp that concept, but he sure loved having double pages to turn!

We initially took this book out of the library and immediately knew that we had to purchase it. This if one of the best early number books I have seen. The upper half of the books has numbers 1 through 10, each one accompanied by the appropriate number of small, black squares. The idea is to find the bottom page with the corresponding number of fruit. The number word (in bold) and name of the fruit appear on the facing page so a child ultimately sees 4 different representations of each particular number. In typical Carle fashion, the brightly colored fruit also represent each of the primary and secondary colors at least once. Brilliant

My Very First Book of Numbers, by Eric Carle, is an educational read for toddlers and preschoolers. The book offers colorful illustrations which helps the reader follow along and count the objects. Aside from counting/math skills, the fruit illustrations on each page offer an increase in vocabulary as well as recognition of these objects. It is a fun interactive read for both the child and the adult participating.

3Q, 4P
This is a very interactive book, with bright colorful illustrations. Encourages movement through pages and offers practice in basic number skills. I think this is appropriate for young toddlers to grow with as they learn and practice numbers.

Do you think that this format could be confusing for some young readers?
Do you think that the use of fruit as the counting objects adds to the reader's reading comprehension and vocabulary development?
Do you think that the author (Eric Carle) would influence readers to read this book, instead of other and better examples of number books?

This board book, designed for young readers, allows children to match number squares with the same quantity of fruit. With the pages divided in the center, readers can choose any number on the top half of the page and then find the corresponding picture of fruit on the bottom half of the page. Children will have fun matching numbers with the various colorfully illustrated fruits.

A book about numbers and fruit. Pretty advanced for a toddler book. Mx was 4 before really got the hang of this. Mx just likes to look at pics.

a fun book introducing numbers with visual representations
1 book