KIPPER'S TOYBOX

Kipper, a charmingly fubsy dog, is concerned: something has nibbled a hole in his toybox; and when he dumps his toys out, he can count one too many: seven. Lined up for enumeration, the toys are six again; but after putting them back in the box, he finds eight noses. So it goes, with pleasing variations, until the floppy-eared pooch discovers what the alert young lapsitter will have been following all along in the engaging illustrations--a pair of mice, now nesting in Kipper's sock puppet. Like Walsh's Mouse Count (1991), an elegantly simple, satisfying story with a lot of opportunities for counting.