Anno's Counting Book: A Simple Introduction to Math for Young Readers

by Mitsumasa Anno

Every child is a natural mathematician, according to Mitsumasa Anno. Children start to count long before they learn their ABC's, for they are constantly comparing and classifying things and events they observe around them. As they try to bring sense and order into what they observe, they are actually performing basic mathematical feats.

In this book, Mitsumasa Anno, the creator of the brilliantly inventive Anno's Alphabet, invites young readers on another stimulating adventure of the imagination-this time into the world of numbers and counting. Gentle watercolor pictures show a landscape changing through the various times of day and the turning seasons, months and years, and the activities of the people and animals who come to live there. But the seemingly simple plan of the book is deceptive: look more carefully and you will see one-to-one correspondences; groups and sets; scales and tabulations; changes over time periods; and many other mathematical relationships as they occur in natural, everyday living. Just as our forebears developed our number system from observing the order of nature, the reader is subtly led to see and understand the real meaning of numbers.

Look at this book and look again. Each time you do so, you will find another application of a natural mathematical concept that you had not noticed before.

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, Counting, Childrens, Number, Nonfiction, 1st Grade

28 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

His name is written as 安野光雅 in Japanese.

Mitsumasa Anno (born March 20, 1926) was a Japanese illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books with few or no words. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1984 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature".

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

We have really been enjoying Anno's Counting Book recently. It's kind of fun that it's not completely straightforward and that you have to search to find all the ways the town grows. It's also nice that it goes through the four seasons. I feel it has a nice balance of details without being overwhelming (like some of the other Anno books).

[Amy Layton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was assigned as an "illumination book" for our structuralist unit in a critical theories class.  When I opened it up, I thought it looked vaguely familiar and didn't fully recognize it until I got to the 6 spread.  Then, I realized that this is the same book that my mother uses in her kindergarten classroom to show her students what numbers look like both in arabic numerals as well as in quantities.  Clearly, this book is a family favorite.

Overall, I love the art, the structure, and the way that it shows the passage of time as the town is constructed through the year.

But after doing our structuralist unit...oh man, this book is a wild ride.  Most counting books start at 1 and then go up to 10...yet here this book is going from 0 to 12!!!  And the way that time is described in this book is pretty interesting--clearly it goes from month to month, but the time on the church also depicts the designated number (but the time goes from afternoon to morning at around page 7, I believe--so then what do we make of that visualization of time passing?)  Obviously, this kind of analysis is a bit overworked, but it's still interesting nonetheless that such a "simple" picturebook/counting book can create such a dialogue around it.

Review cross-listed here!

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique, wordless counting book (to 12) that takes a town through the seasons. Each page has many groups of objects on it to count. Definitely one to look at if you're sick of standard counting books.

[Lorellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple and exquisite, Tot and I both loved counting as the village grew.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so fun! Watch a village grow from 0-12 buildings as the year progresses. Each page has a growing number of adults, children, buildings, trees, and other objects to count.

[Michelle Turnure · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that engages readers (both adult and child) by encouraging them to count the beautiful, simple illustrations on each page. Starting from 0 and ending at 12, each layout features buildings or houses, trees and flowers, people, animals and so on from a village. The number of objects/people/animals grows chronologically. It's fun to look at the small illustrations and count them in groups. This pushes the reader to really engage with the book and the act of counting. The last page of the group explains how this is an excellent method to get kids counting and taught me a lot about this process and thinking about numbers and math. I borrowed this from the library but plan to buy it now.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of counting books, but this one has earned a place on my shelves (real as well as virtual). It allows a child's imagination to soar, and provides the child with choices because there are so many ways on each page to illustrate the designated number. The "About Numbers" page at the end of the book goes beyond basic information and introduces the history of counting.

One illustration gave me pause. '12' has only 11 snowy conifers. I think the 12th one was used as the Christmas tree.

[Yiovana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book if the goal is to teach children how to count. It is a book that starts off with a blank picture indicating the number 0 and it goes on with adding 1, 2, 3 and so on up to the number 10. I think children will enjoy this book and engage quickly if asked the right questions regarding the story. Ages 3-5 can most likely benefit and find this book interesting.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revisit when Rose is older and learning to count.

[Jessica Maiorano]

Title: Anno’s Counting Book
Author: Anno, Mitsumasa
Illustrator: Anno, Mitsumasa
Genre: Counting Book
Theme(s): Counting, Seasons


Brief Book Summary:
Anno’s Counting Book has no words yet still creates a full story on a town filled with people, places and animals representing each number from 1-12.

Professional Recommendation/Review #1:

• American Library Association Feb/Mar 2002
Preschool-up. This wonderful wordless picture book presents children with an abundance of topics to talk and write about, since each illustration represents a different month and time of the day in the same evolving scene. Children can count and discuss objects as the little town grows before their eyes.

Professional Recommendation/Review #2:

• The Arithmetic Teacher
This is a counting book for numbers one through twelve. "Gentle watercolor pictures show a land- scape changing through the various times of day and the turning seasons, months, and years, and the activities of the people and animals who come to live there. But the seemingly simple plan of the book is deceptive: look more carefully and you will see one-to-one correspondences; groups and sets; scales and tabulations; changes over time periods; and many other mathematical relation- ships as they occur in natural everyday living." This book has very cleverly shown a landscape as it changes over time and seasons. Each time you look at it you discover new relationships from one picture to the next. Besides providing a source book for counting, this book should help generate much discussion about nature and the small community that is shown as it develops through the years.

Response to Two Professional Reviews:

Both of the reviews mentioned something that I also noticed after going through the book again, you see something new every time. Children are able to discover new aspects of the town every time they read. The Arithmetic Teacher talked about how not only does this book provide many opportunities for the children to count but it opens up the conversation to many other topics.

Evaluation of Literary Elements:
The borders in the book create a world for the story to take place in. The white background outside the borders allows the reader to only focus the story world. The light colors inside the borders create a peaceful and inviting scene for the readers to enjoy.

Consideration of Instructional Application:

The book was created around a small town filled with numbers. The students can pick a number 1-12 and they will have the opportunity to draw and create their own town with the number they picked.

[Hunter Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is meant for a really young group. While the idea behind the simple concept of the book is great, I think the illustrations could've been a little more engaging. Each page is numbered, 1 through 12. On each page another house or building is added to the illustrations. While I think this is a great way to keep the children involved by counting the number of building on each page, I really just thought the pictures were sort of boring. I do like that as the book is going along the reader gets to see this fictional town being build along the way. This could be something that the reader could get really in to. For example, you get to see a railroad being built starting on page 4, and even people fishing in the nearby river on the same page. Children would probably find it fun trying to find the different new things on each page, which is good for engagement. I stick to y original thought that its somewhat boring however. It could be that this book is from the 70's and I just think children need something more to draw their attention. After saying this, I still appreciated the details that went into the illustrations.

[Jhana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most engaging picture books I have ever read. I have read this picture book over and over, and each time I find something new. This is a counting book, but I didn’t catch on to that at first. Each page had a number from 0-12 with a beautiful illustration to go along with the number. However, I didn’t know that the number related to the illustration until the second time I read the book. By the third time, I had realized that each number on the page (1-12) represented a month of the year. I had also realized that there were objects of landscape that represented each number. Each time I read this book, I discovered a different relationship that I had not seen before. I love this book, and I would recommend this book to any of my future students. However, I would not read this book aloud to my class. I would want my students to read this book on their own to see which relationships they find, and see if their interpretation is different from mine and their peers. I plan on having several copies of this book in my future classroom.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned of Japanese artist Mitsumasa Anno from a book of interviews with children’s picture book artists called Show Me a Story and was curious about his work, so requested a few of his books from the library. This was the one that felt most like a children’s book and it’s cleverly done. The other book I looked at were about his travels, and are a lot more subtle and sophisticated, more art book than children’s book. His style reminds me of American folk art, and I love that style.

This book shows the same town as it grows. It starts at zero when there is nothing, then there is one tree, one house, one person. The next page there’s another tree, another building, two people, and so on. They’re not the same people, and the seasons slowly change with each image until the book ends at 12 and a robust village. I could see kids enjoying spotting all of each kind of thing. Sometimes they’re obviously grouped, but adults or trees might be scattered throughout the scene and take a little more effort to spot.

[glowinghope ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mitsumasa Anno’s, Anno’s Counting Book, is full of gorgeous illustrations. Aside from the numbers present on each page, there is no text. I feel like it could benefit from the addition of words because children love being read to. Because of the lack of words this book would only work in small settings, like if you were working with 1-3 children. As the book goes on the illustrations have a certain amount of items to represent the large number shown (1-12). Smaller groups of children would be able to quickly pick out how many of each object is present on each page, but this would be hard to do with a larger group. Even though I feel like this book would be better with text, I do appreciate Anno’s attention to detail. The counting blocks on the left side of each page spread is a smart touch. Children could easily point this out and recognize the manipulatives as something they use during math lessons.

[Abbey Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anno’s Counting Book is exactly what it sounds like- a book that helps children learn how to count. The cover illustration shows a whole village during what appears to be fall time. You see the same village get developed throughout the story. It starts off very simple and as the numbers get higher there are more parts that are added in to really bring it to life. There are no words, it’s just a book that counts from one to 12.Each page has groups of things that represent the number- houses, flags, animals, people, trees, flowers, etc. This would be great for little kids to try to find all the different things in the book that are grouped into whatever the number is. This would be used when teaching the most basic counting skills and finding things that might be hidden in illustrations. I think Anno’s Counting Book is a good example of how books can make something more interesting than just drawing on the board or telling students about how to count.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has so many tools to help young children learn to recognize numbers and to count. One tool is the big black number on each page on the right side that tells you what number that page is focusing on. Another tool is the counting blocks that are also found on each page on the left side. Another tool is the details found in the illustrations. For example on the number 7 page, it is fairly easy to see that there are seven houses, seven cows, and seven colors in the rainbow. But as you look closer, you see seven chimneys, seven windows on the houses, and the church clock indicating 7 o’clock. The way the illustrator tied in the 12 months of the year, just adds to the many details found in this book. This book would not be the best to read out loud to a large group of children but an excellent book to share with one child, so they have a chance to look at all the details found in the pictures.

[Nicole Lee]

This book shows a variety of ways to represent counting. Each set of pages, two pages, contain a frame that is shaped like a raffle ticket. On the right side, outside of the frame, is the number being represented. On the left side, also outside of the frame, has ten boxes stacked one on top of the other. The first number that begins the book is zero. On this page, there is nothing but a white open field with a sky and a river. On the following pages, the boxes are filled with according to the number being represented. The images are repeated on the page in correlation to the number. In other words, if the number being shown is three then there are three flowers, three buildings, three people, and etc. within the frame. The book also circles through the seasons, starting with winter and ending with winter. Last but not least, the author includes a guide in how to utilize the book for classroom lessons.

[Jess Hedgecock · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Characters, setting, plot, etc.: There are no one character throughout this book. The setting is a piece of land in a town that keeps growing up with new stuff for the reader to count.
2. Literary or artistic elements: There are no words in the book, only numbers on the side. The artistic elements look like a child's drawing. I believe the child's drawing brings in a change that not many other books do.
3. Rating on the book: I rated this book a four out of five stars because of the ways I could incorporate this into my classroom. I can do an active read aloud with the students, I could have a student lead the book by simply telling the others what number is on the side, or leave it at a table during circles for students to find all of the numbers with the objects on the pages. Also, I enjoy this book because it shows the line of cubes for how many each page's number is.

[siriusedward · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about numbers.The concept of it.

There are no words to read aloud.
Only beautiful illustrations. A two page spread for each number.
It can be used to show without telling that there are so many ways a number can be used.

My kids love it.Me too.

There are numbers upto 12.
The digits are on one page and the blocks representing the number on another.

And it shows seasonal changes too from 1/Jan to 12/Dec.
And time in the church clock in the illustration.
As I said so many layers to dig into each time.

Thank you to all the childrens book illustrators,writers ,publishers for all the diverse books available now.And a thousand thank yous to Amazon for making it possible ,or making it easier, for things to reach usfromall corners of the world.And to Goodreads ,Youtubers and bloggers for making it possible to know what we are buying.

[David Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This simple picture book by Japanese author Mitsumasa Anno introduces young readers about 4-7 to simple numerical counting. Like a simple alphabet book, this concept story helps connect young learners by introducing the idea that a picture of the thing (physical) can be represented by a visual number (mathematic/empirical). This connection begins the foundation of mathematical thinking in that we can represent a concept in various ways. For example, in middle school, math scholars learn to “see” the concept in multiple ways – as a physical picture of the things, using verbal language and words, using math terms, and using an empirical model with sticks, tally marks, etc. With typical minimalism inherent in Japanese esthetics, this story contains beautiful illustrations from nature to help teach a simple, yet important, lesson about mathematics and language for primary readers.

[MARTA TORRES · Rating 5 out of 5]

Japanese author and illustrator, Anno Mitsumasa uses a great amount of detail in what normally would be a simple counting book. Anno believes children start counting and learning about number at an earlier age than they do the alphabet. This counting book uses every day objects found in towns and in nature that children can use to learn how to count.

The watercolor paintings show a scenic town that starts from zero and through the years the town becomes larger and larger, increasing in numbers. There are many patterns and groups that can be observed in each page. The amount of detail in each drawing is astonishing and children will enjoy looking for sequences in each page.

Recommended for ages 2-5.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great counting book with many different aspects to it. When I first opened it, I thought there would be one animal or one object on the page but it was a town. Then when I turned the page to #2, there was 2 of everything. Two buildings, two people, two animals, two clouds, etc. I thought this idea was great because once you get to higher numbers like 8, I really had to count everything and I was curious to see where everything was. This book seemed like an "I Spy" book which I think is a very fun way to get kids interested and engaged in counting. I gave this book 5 stars because the illustrations were great and easy to follow but also challenging to find each person or each cow or each tree. Overall, an entertaining counting book.

[Michelle Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nonfiction: Concept Book
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Nominee
Pre-K to 1st grade
• The topic of this book is to help younger children associate objects with numbers as well as potentially introducing numbers to a child.
• The book associate’s numbers with houses. The reader can visibly see that the increase in numbers mean an increase in houses. Another way it makes it child friendly is there is no wording on the pages.
• The pictures dominate the pages with the margins left to depict the number of blocks on the left and the numerical value on the right margin.
• This book could be used with younger children to introduce numbers and counting to them as well as could be used to also depict season as the pictures are always changing.

[Brigid Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know who isn’t giving this book five stars. My 19 month old is actually learning to count with one to one correspondence

It has a picture of Mathlink cubes on the left side (or you can pretend they are blocks) so you can easy count what each page’s number is. And on the far right side is the number itself.

Each page has a picture made up of the number of items for that page’s number. All of the images are of a little town. So for the number 3, there will be three houses, three little children, three flowers, three boats , etc.

My daughter loved it. We will get this out from the library over and over.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wordless picture book that walks readers through 12 months in a growing countryside village. Those with eyes for patterns will notice there's 1 of everything on the 1 spread, 2 of everything on the 2 spread and so on. The village grows to 12 of everything and the seasons change.

It really helps to read the back of the book which clues you into the patterns going on. There are absolutely no words in the book, just a big numeral on the right hand of the spread and base 10 blocks building on the left hand of the spread. The village looks to be set in the 1800s. A good pick for littles practicing counting and pattern recognition.

[Amanda Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Anno's math books. My library was closed so I could cover for a first grade teacher in a pinch. She wanted me to have three students write math stories and provided some pictures. I thought why not use Anno's Counting book? It was fun to share it with the kids and see their versions of the illustrations.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great format that includes large, 2-page spread, number cubes, the numbers themselves, and illustrations that have the same amount of items as the current number. Child really enjoyed counting all the different items --- 3 buildings, 4 children, 5 trees, etc --- as the town itself grows through the varying seasons of the year.

[Amayalacey]

Author: Mitsumasa Anno
Book Title: Anno's Counting Book
Audience: Children
Theme: The theme of the book is basically teaching kids how to count by looking at different objects and pictures.
Why I chose this book: I chose this book because you can never go wrong with a good counting book to help children read and count at the same time.

[Mandy Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a great book for a Preschool-Kindergarten class. I don't think I would put it in any class past Kindergarten because it would be a little to basic for them. I really loved the number of blocks that went up every page on the left side. I feel like that is a great way for students still to be able to read this book in case they do not know how to read numbers yet.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wintery field transforms page-by-page into a old-timey town as this book implicitly takes the reader through the 12 months of the year. My four-year-old enjoyed looking at the book, counting, and spotting differences on each page.