Jerry Pallotta, author
Jerry Pallotta is an award-winning author of children's alphabet books and imaginative fiction. He combines interesting facts, detailed research, humor, and realistic illustrations that mesmerize children everywhere.
Read more about Jerry.
Shennen Bersani, illustrator
Shennen Bersani, mother of four, spent her childhood swimming, sailing, and seashell collecting. She attended the Art Institute of Boston and has been a freelance illustrator for over fifteen years. She lives near Boston, Massachusetts.
Read more about Shennen.
- ABC Best Books for Children
A handsome companion to Underwater Counting: Even Numbers. Pallotta still counts by twos, but slips into the realm of odd numbers, which may prove a slight challenge to readers conditioned to even numbers. However, he does slide into the "evens" for the numbers 50 and 0 at the end of this eye-catching book. Bersani's bright, realistic colored-pencil illustrations will lure readers into perusing the factoid-loaded, simple, conversational text. From "1 Striped Bass" to "23 Horseshoe Crabs" to "50 Blue Sharks," this book offers a colorful, engaging, and intriguing slant on the technique of counting.
Science Books & Films
Ocean Counting blends primary grade mathematics with facts about sea creatures. Each page features an odd integer from 1 to 49 and an illustration depicting the corresponding number of an ocean-dwelling animal. A few sentences on each page offer interesting tidbits about the organism. Nineteen lumpfish, for example, are noted to have suction cups on their bellies so that they can "attach themselves to things" during times of rough water. The reading level is generally suited to upper elementary school, but with a few instances of rather sophisticated terminology. A blood star, for example, is said to be an echinoderm, which is defined as "rough skinned." The book could also be read aloud with younger children, for whom the math will tend to be more appropriate.
The mathematical content falls within the category of number sense. Each image provides a concrete representation of the associated numeral, thereby helping children to appreciate, for example, what 49 of something looks like. In addition, there are plenty of creatures to count, and even for children with a strong sense of a one-to-one correspondence, the counting becomes quite challenging at the higher numbers. Skip counting by two's is presented, as is the concept of odd numbers. The combination of sea creatures and mathematics makes this volume rather unusual, but ultimately, it's the book's beauty and the detail of the illustrations that set it apart.
ISBN: 978-1-60734-301-1 EPUB
ISBN: 978-1-60734-290-8 PDF
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Page count: 32
11 x 8 1/2