School Readiness Skills and Picture Books: Math Skills

Groovy Joe is a guitar playing dog who loves to sing and dance, and when many other dogs come and join him his home gets a little crowded, but the party is fun, and Joe is definitely a guitar hero.

In simple rhyme, Nancy Van Laan tells the joyous story of a child looking for a tree to call his own. He climbs five trees and discovers them occupied by everything from one owl nesting to five spiders spinning, until at last he finds the tree that's perfect for him . . . right in his own backyard! Told from a child's perspective, this engaging book has many levels: it's a counting book, a book of concepts, and a point-and-say book, and it also shows every child's desire to explore the big, wide world and know that the comfort of home is close at hand. Bold, graphic illustrations add to the fun, making this a great choice for young audiences.

Count along with Mother Duck as her ducklings try to waddle across the bridge. When a sudden gust of wind sweeps one of Mother Duck's ducklings into the river, she doesn't know what to do. With four ducklings on the bridge and one below, Mother Duck is torn as to which way to go. Suddenly, a second duck falls and Mother Duck grows more panicked. Should she stay on the bridge or fly down to her ducklings in the river?

Mem introduces young readers to the basic math principles of addition and subtraction.

Come along for some BIG fun as your favorite dinosaurs delight young readers with their playful antics. How do dinosaurs count to ten? Over and over and over again!

In this variation on the the classic song "Over in the Meadow," mother and father trucks show their youngsters how to build down at the construction site, from "mama bulldozer with her little dozer one" to "mama steamroller with her little rollers ten."

Pete the cat loves the buttons on his shirt so much that he makes up a song about them, and even as the buttons pop off, one by one, he still finds a reason to sing.

A tiny sleepy mouse is ready to get into bed. But there are nine others lying down too. One by one the animal friends roll over and out of the bed and straight into a new adventure story. The dog princess climbs from her bed-topped tower. The rabbit astronaut takes off from her bed-rocket-ship. The bear pilot parachutes out of his bed-plane. Count and sing along until everyone is - at last - ready for a good night's sleep.

After Triangle plays a trick on Square, Square plans to reciprocate but runs into trouble when he tries to enter the triangular doorway of Triangle's home.

*This is just one book from Barnett's shape trilogy. You can also look for the other two books, Circle and Square.

In this lively picture book, children discover shapes all around them: rectangles are ice-cream carts and stone metates, while triangles are slices of watermelon and quesadillas. Many of the featured objects are Latino in origin, and all are universal in appeal. With rich illustrations, a fun-to-read rhyming text, and an informative glossary, this playful concept book will reinforce the shapes found in every child's day!

When Circle rolls into one of Triangle's points and pops, chaos momentarily ensues until Octagon's "Stop!" brings everyone to their senses. An effortlessly rhyming text introduces us to a collection of shapes and subtly weaves their physical characteristics into traits that both lead to and solve a would-be catastrophe. Master illustrator Serge Bloch's shapes are accompanied by a chorus of miniature people who play along, creating the perfect complement to Barbara Kanninen's economy of words. Worthy of comparison to Shel Silverstein's The Missing Piece, this raucous chain of events is satisfyingly cyclical, ending just exactly where it began.