1,2,3 To the Zoo: A Counting Book
by Eric Carle
(Philomel, 1986)

All aboard! From one large elephant to ten bright birds, each car of the zoo-bound train contains one more animal than the previous one. In this introduction to numbers, children can name and count the animals, or find the little mouse hiding on each page.

Actual Size
by Steve Jenkins
(Houghton Mifflin, 2004)

Wow. Imagine a book with an elephant’s hoof, a dwarf goby fish (1/3 of an inch), and the eye of a giant squid—all in actual size. Put your own hand onto that of a gorilla’s—actual size. The lengths are there for grown-ups to help with, and the book’s appendix offers still more information about each animal—habitat, speed, weight, traits, and more. What an intriguing, child-centered way to learn.

Biggest, Strongest, Fastest
by Steve Jenkins
(Houghton Mifflin, 1997)

Five-year-olds are the perfect audience—or any child who loves size, power, and speed. Here are the answers (accompanied by vibrant, oversize cutpaper collages) to the questions that may be just the ones children want to ask. Which IS the fastest animal? the tallest? the strongest? In this dual level book, children can attend to the single fact in child-size font, and adults can fill in with additional information (found in smaller print) as children’s interests grow.

Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones
by Byron Barton
(Thomas Y. Crowell, 1990)

With simple, bold lines and bright colorsand limited text per page, the roles of the paleontologist are made clear to the youngest of children: “We look for bones.” “We dig them up.” But children are also offered the names of dinosauars they love to roll about on the tongue: Tyrannosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Triceratops, and more. These worker reconstruct the bones of the Tyrannosaurus into a museum model: “We put the claws on the foot bones and the foot bones on the leg bones.”

A Children’s Zoo
by Tana Hoban
(Greenwillow,1985)

Photographs of zoo animals inspire talk. “Why, what’s this?” you’ll ask. And children will tell you. Beginning with Hoban’s spare, descriptive language next to each photo, kids and grown-ups can elaborate on the text, adding their own observations of each animal. Some teachers use the describing words on each page to make a riddle game. What is “big, brown, and growls?” The book’s glossary serves learning as children develop, making the book a lasting one.

Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too?
by Eric Carle
(HarperCollins, 2000)

Eric Carle shares the gentle message that, “like me and you,” animals are cared for by their mothers. To the recurring question, “Does a ______ have a mother, too?" the response is always a resounding “YES!” As with all Carle’s books, some important concepts are on display amid the colorful hand-painted paper collages. This time, it’s the names of the animal babies, their parents, and the unique name of their group.
Also available as a board book.
Also available in Spanish.

Ducks Don’t Get Wet
by Augusta Goldin
illustrated by Helen K. Davie
(HarperCollins 1965/1999)

Here’s an explanation, with beautifully detailed watercolor illustrations, of just why ducks don’t get wet. Children will learn why ducks “duck” into water, and how they use their feet and bills. Diving ducks and migrating ducks are illustrated with easy-to-understand text. There is even a simple experiment ito show children how duck’s feathers “don’t get wet.” Consider pairing the books with I Get Wet by Vicki Cobb, illustrated by Julia Gorton (HarperCollins, 2002). It’s a hands-on exploration of water’s characteristics.

Feathers for Lunch
by Lois Ehlert
(Harcourt, 1990)

A house cat wishes that the wild birds in the garden were lunch, but children need not worry. The twelve brightly colored species in Ehlert’s book are much too quick for the cat. With trademark Ehlert style and simple, read-along rhyme contributing to the fun, there is lots to learn. At the close of the book, four pages are devoted to helping young readers identify the birds and their songs.
Also available in Spanish.

Freight Train
by Donald Crews
(Morrow, 1980)

Little ones will enjoy your sound effects. Older kids can learn to identify the cars, each with it special name and color. All readers and listeners will revel in the details of the art, and feel the excitement of the trip. Consider, too, the manipulative board book, Inside Freight Train, also by Donald Crews.
Also available as a board book.
Also available in Spanish.

George Washington’s Teeth
by Deborah Chandra & Madeleine Comora
illustrated by Brock Cole
(Farrar Straus Giroux, 2003)

A step into history with one of our foremost heroes who fought not only for American independence, but some fierce dental problems as well—losing his permanent teeth. Told in rhyme, and set against the times, George Washington ponders the steady loss of his teeth (counting backwards): “The Redcoats fled—George won the war!/When he returned alive,/Martha checked for seven teeth/But counted only five.” In this version, George helps to design himself false teeth that “fit just right.” The illustrations of costume and scene are lively and merry.

Growing Vegetable Soup
by Lois Ehlert
(Harcourt, 1990)

“Dad says we are going to grow vegetable soup.” Against brilliantly colored backgrounds, garden tools are gathered, and then gardening gloves carefully place seeds and sprouts into trenches. A stylized watering can drops circles of water, and an orange cut paper sun warms the earth. All the gardening steps are illustrated in clean shapes and crayon box colors, accompanied by enlarged simple text. Finally, “the vegetables are ready for us to pick.” Washed, chopped, and put into water, the vegetables have indeed grown in soup. Although the shapes and text are simple enough for the youngest reader, the recipe for soup that is included, along with print labels for the seeds, tools, and vegetables on each page, help the book serve different developmental levels.
Also available as a board book.
Also available in Spanish.

If You Find a Rock
by Peggy Christian
photographs by Barbara Hirsch Lember
(Harcourt, 2000)

Beautiful photographs of children finding rocks of all kinds remind children of the variety, feel, sizes, and uses of rocks. Not a book of geology, but rather a book of noticing—providing childlike labels for rocks. Children are photographed with such important and distinct rocks as a climbing rock, a resting rock, a skipping stone, a chalk rock, and even a walking rock—the kind you kick ahead of you “to lead you home.”

Mister Seahorse
by Eric Carle
(Penguin, 2004)

Dive in and learn about some father sea creatures that help to raise and protect their young—seahorses, stickleback, tilapia, and more. Acetate pages serve as camouflage for the sea life until the child turns the page. The handpainted tissue captures the colors of the sea, making for a gorgeous learning tool for young snorkelers and bathtub divers!

Shapes, Shapes, Shapes
by Tana Hoban
(Morrow, 1995)

Look around and you see shapes everywhere!

In a book of stunning full-color photographs of familiar objects and scenes, children can find circles, squares, triangles, ovals, stars, hearts, and more. This wordless book is an opportunity to talk about shapes in the geometry of the world.

Snug, Warm, and Safe
by Steven R. Swinburne
illustrated by Jose Aruego & Ariane Dewey
(Voyager Books, 2002)

Animals the world over care for and protect their young. Find out the unusual ways insects, birds, reptiles, and mammals keep babies safe in this delightfully informative and beautifully illustrated book. For example, you may know that marsupials nurture their young in a pouch, but where do you think the mama cichlid hides her babies? Pair this with Where Wild Babies Sleep by Ann Purmell, illustrated by Lorianne Siomades (Boyds Mill Press, 2003).

This is the Sunflower
by Lola M. Schaefer, Donald Crews (Illustrator)
(Greenwillow, 2000)

“First there is a sunflower. Seasons pass ... and soon there is a patch of sunflowers.” The repetitive rhyming text, coupled with spectacular illustrations by Donald Crews, offers the cycle of sunflowers to seeds, beautifully illustrating the role of birds—with their beaks that crack open the seeds. Best of all is the patch of sunflowers that grow from just one seed.

Trucks, Trucks, Trucks
by Peter Sis
(Greenwillow, 1999)

Cleaning your room can be so boring, but as Matt's favorite toy trucks begin to grow, so does the fun. Matt's imagination runs wild as he finds himself riding through the mess in his own bedroom on his very own toys. What a fun way to get the job done and to learn some specialized vehicle names. Sis's simple, nearly classic drawings are accessible to the youngest children. Fire Truck (Greenwillow, 1998), also by Peter Sis, makes a great companion book to Truck, Trucks, Trucks. In this one Matt actually becomes a fire truck.

Waiting for Wings
by Lois Ehlert
(Harcourt, 2001)

Against a brilliant display of foliage, youngsters learn the mystery of “where butterflies come from.” Ehlert begins with the eggs on the leaves, moves to the caterpillar, and concludes with an assortment of butterflies in an array of flowers. How butterflies live and what butterflies eat are addressed—all with the potential to awaken or fan a young child’s curiosity about creatures just “waiting for wings”. A good book to read with Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Putnam, 1983).

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
by Steven Jenkins and Robin Page
(Houghton Mifflin, 2003)

Because animals use their tails, noses, eyes, ears, and even feet in different ways, why not speculate about those uses, and then learn more? It’s all in this informing treasure, illustrated with cut paper animals against clean white space with text that follows the shape of the feature under discussion. On one double page spread, children view (in close-up) the tails of five creatures. Turn the page to discover how those five animals use their tails. For example, a scorpion’s tail “gives a nasty sting,” but “if you’re a lizard, you break off your tail to get away.”

Whose Feet?
by Jeanette Rowe
(Little, Brown, 1998)

The title says (or asks) it all! Children are invited to guess to whom the feet in each illustration belong, and then lift the flaps to verify—revealing the complete animal. The illustrations are colorful and clear. Use pictures off the Internet, out of magazines, or let children draw to create their very own Whose Eyes/Nose/Ears book.