The Crayon Counting Book

By: Pam Munoz Ryan / Illustrated by: Frank Mazzola, Jr. Crayons aren't just for coloring anymore! This colorful rhyme teaches counting by twos–two different ways. First, use the even numbers to count up to 24. Then start over with the odd numbers. Along the way you'll learn unusual colors, like iguana and fiddlehead. Do any of them sound familiar? They should! They come from the pages of Jerry Pallotta's alphabet books. Counting has never been more fun or colorful! If you like this book, you’ll enjoy these: The Coin Counting Book Teddy Bear Counting [TABS] Look Inside Author & Illustrator Pam Muñoz Ryan, author Pam Muñoz Ryan grew up in Bakersfield, California, in the San Joaquin Valley. Her home was a smorgasbord of cultural diversity including grandparents from Aguascalientes, Mexico, who migrated to the United States. Pam wrote about her grandmother’s journey in her best-selling book, Esperanza Rising (Scholastic). And on her father’s side of the family, her Portuguese-speaking Basque grandfather traveled to California from Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. When spending time at one grandparent’s home, Pam and her sisters spoke Spanish and ate tortillas, beans, enchiladas, red molé, and lamb. When with the other, they enjoyed black-eyed peas, fried okra, biscuits and gravy, and smothered greens. Read more about Pam. Frank Mazzola, Jr., illustrator Frank Mazzola, Jr. is the author/illustrator of Counting Is for the Birds and the illustrator of The Ocean Alphabet Book and The Crayon Counting Book. He received his B.A. in studio art from the College of Wooster in Ohio. Frank combines traditional painting techniques with computer technologies to create his amazing illustrations. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Cindy, where they watch the birds that feed at their five bird feeders. Read more about Frank. Awards & Honors ILA/CBC Children's Choices Editorial Reviews Publishers Weekly In a high-tech approach to a low-tech subject, computer-generated crayons strike different poses on each page of this surprisingly animated counting book. The crayons appear in rows, pyramids and pairs do-si-do-ing in a line; they stand on their heads and lie in piles. The rhyming text counts by twos, first by even numbers ("A set of twins joins the color scheme,/ which brings the count to precisely sixteen"), then by odds ("Seventeen pastels, delicate and light/ Nineteen hotshots, bold and bright"). While the reader is ostensibly counting crayons from a box of 24, she must suspend disbelief: obviously there would not be 11 greens (with names like "iguana," "wasabi" and "emerald tree boa"), much less 15 blues, within a particular assortment. It's a slight book, but a colorful one. Downloadables Download the Cover Download the Activity Guide Details Paperback ISBN: 9780881069532 E-book ISBN: 9781632895219 EPUB ISBN: 9781607342144 PDF Ages: 2-5 Page count: 32 11 x 8 1/2 [/TABS]