One Watermelon Seed by Celia Barker Lottridge, Karen Patkau (Illustrator)

Product Details

Synopsis

Previously announced

Here's a wonderfully innovative book for children who are just learning to count, but who are bored with simple counting books.

As we watch Max and Josephine tend their garden, there are ample opportunities to count — from 1 to 10 as the garden is planted and from 10 to 100 (in tens) while the garden is being harvested. But there's more to count than plants. Bees, ants, worms, butterflies and other animals also adorn the pages, and children will want to count them too. Bold, colorful illustrations by Karen Patkau accompany Celia Barker Lottridge's direct text. Not only is the book good arithmetic fun, it also offers a fascinating introduction to gardening as well.

"The text leads clearly and progressively through the numbers while suggesting the joys of watching something grow. The illustrations are colorful, energetic and imaginative." — London Free Press (Ontario)

School Library Journal

Pres-Gr 2

Numbers, colors, and gardening are combined in this vividly illustrated counting book. The story starts as Max and Josephine plant a garden, first 1 watermelon seed, then 2 pumpkin seeds, and so on all the way to 10. The phrase, "and they grew" follows mention of each new set of seeds. The graphic-style illustrations depict the seedlings as they grow, with an occasional gardening glove, tool, watering can, or young hand inserted into the scenes. After a center spread with colorful plants filling the pages to capacity and Max and Josephine busy at work, it's time for the harvest. The fruits and vegetables are so plentiful that they must be counted in tens: "ten watermelons, big and green, and twenty pumpkins, glowing orange." The vibrant colors and close-up views of the produce make it look delicious and irresistible. Later, on a cold winter night, the children turn "one hundred ears of corn" into "100s and 1000s of big, white crunchy puffs" of popcorn. Throughout the book, the text runs along the bottom of the double-paged illustrations, with the numerals, in bright colors, lining up beneath. This appealing book is great for classroom counting and discussions of seasons. Pair it with Lois Ehlert's Growing Vegetable Soup (Harcourt, 1987).-Jane Marino, Bronxville Public Library, NY

Biography

Celia Barker Lottridge, a children's librarian and storyteller, has been associated with The Children's Bookstore, Toronto, for several years.