Jerry Pallotta is an award-winning author of children's alphabet books and imaginative fiction, including The Construction Alphabet Book, The Icky Bug Alphabet Book, and Dory Story. Jerry lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Joy Newton grew up surrounded by nature and design. She now designs high-end stationery and home goods with nature themes. The Very Berry Counting Book is her first children's book.
* Children can learn to count from one to 10 in a berry appetizing way.This lovely counting book, reminiscent of old-fashioned botanical illustrations, introduces children to a variety of berries. Examples range from the well-known staples, such as raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, cranberries, and blackberries, through the less-familiar, such as mulberries, salmonberries, and elderberries, to the surprising, such as green grapes and red grapes. Yes, those are berries too. Each berry illustration is set against a soft cream background that further contributes to the antique feel of the book. The number--presented in both numerical and word form--is followed by a simple two-word descriptor of the berry in question: sour cranberries, tasty blackberries, plump green grapes, tart elderberries. The color of the text matches its berry. The presentation is deceivingly simple, yet it offers so much: numbers, colors, vocabulary in the form of berry names and adjectives, and, last but not least, art appreciation. Here's hoping it will also open up appetites and a taste for the simple, healthy pleasures in life. A simple, elegant book.--Kirkus Reviews, starred review