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HOW MANY? by Debbie MacKinnon

HOW MANY?

by Debbie MacKinnon & photographed by Anthea Sieveking

Pub Date: March 1st, 1993
ISBN: 0-8037-1253-7
Publisher: Dial Books

A deceptively simple counting book, illustrated with bright photos crisply silhouetted on a white ground. Even the extremely basic text (``How many socks do Grace and Josh have? five/5'') is enriched by the variety of names of the multicultural toddlers here, while the socks in question exemplify the imagination brought to the simple concept: on the verso, two vibrantly decorative pairs are mismatched on the two kids' feet, while they have a tug of war with the odd one; on the recto, where all five socks are laid out for counting, it can be seen that the fifth is decorated with the numerals up to 13. The concept is extended with dissimilar objects (eight toy animals; ten cookies decorated with ascending numbers of raisins, cherries, etc.—though seven appears twice and six not at all, except in the points on the star cookie). A decorative endpaper recapitulation completes this intelligently conceived, unusually attractive offering. (Picture book. 1-5)