One Boy by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Seeger, L. V.  (2008).  One boy.  Roaring Book Press.  Unpaged, $14.95

Learn to count and recognize new words within familiar words by reading this book.

This is a book about counting and about recognizing words within words.  It gives a visual representation of objects representing the numbers one through 10.  A cut-out on the pages boxes each number to help children read the number words one through 10 and then recognize the words within other words.  This book is well-suited for five-year-old children as they are learning to read, count, and recognize new words.  The words on the pages are big and simple, sometimes rhyming and sometimes not rhyming, but still helping the children understand the concept of the book.  The pictures are simple and colorful with a child-like quality to them.  I read this book with my little cousin who is learning to count, and she really seemed to enjoy it.  Her face lit up when (after reading the book several times) she was able to recognize the words in the book.  She was able to read it, and she was so excited about it!  I think the title refers to numbers and counting since (aside from zero) we usually start counting with the number one.  In addition, 'one' is a word that you might find as part of longer words, and children who are learning to read might be able to read longer words by recognizing smaller words within words.

In 2009 this book received Honor for the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award.  Learn more about the author and illustrator Laura Vaccaro Seeger at http://us.macmillan.com/author/lauravaccaroseeger.  She has also written and illustrated First the Egg, The Hidden Alphabet, and What If?