The Baker's Dozen: A Counting Book

by Dan Andreasen

Here is a delectable counting book that goes all the way to thirteen--a baker's dozen. Steaming German chocolate cakes, perfectly formed cherry pies, and gooey jelly rolls are just a few of the jolly baker's sweet treats.

Preschoolers will enjoy counting the mouth-watering pastries faster than this baker can make them!

Genres: Picture Books, Food, Counting, Childrens, Mathematics, Storytime, Number

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 24, 2007

Reviews

[H Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for counting and for the little foodies. Illustrations are nicely done with oil, wonderful texture, and characters are funny and to the point.

One minor issues with the book, some food samples are too small to count.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a simple counting book, and nothing more, but I'd love to decorate my kitchen walls with all the pictures of the happy baker and his yummy treats. I think I'd sell my soul for a cupcake right now.

[Audrey Pollard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Baker’s Dozen is a counting picture book about a baker who counts each of his desserts he makes. He makes 1 eclair, 2 cakes, etc. He is preparing his bakery for the 13 guests he is expecting at his bakery.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for "D is for Doughnuts" themed storytime - August 14, 2018

[AMY · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story for K-2

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sweet book and I enjoyed it.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a yummy counting book!

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was cute. The pictures were large. The book is colorful. The text is simple. And it rhymes. Overall, a good counting book.

[Caroline Downer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This counting picture book is adorable! I think "The Baker's Dozen" is a great book for children learning to count. There are thirteen delicious baked treats and a jolly baker on each page. For each number, there are two pages devoted to it. One page has the two lined sentence that rhymes and the number. The other page has a picture of the cheerful baker acting out the sentence and producing the dessert. I think this is a great set up because it leaves one page for the child to look at that contains the sentence and the number that they are learning and the other page is just to look at for fun. This helps the child be able to focus on one thing at a time and not get distracted by the picture when they are trying to learn the number. I think one of the most helpful parts of this picture book is the review, or summary, at the end on two pages. This review goes all the way from the one cream éclair to the thirteen happy customers each in their own row. While reading the book or having it read to them, children can easily get side tracked and just look at the pictures, which is fine! However, that is why I think the review is a good tool because it helps bring back the focus to the numbers after the child has had a good time looking at the pictures and enjoying the story!

[Timothy Luken · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice sweet counting book that I recommend you do not read if you are hungry! This counting book keeps it simple for the kids with the rhyming lines and as little text as needed for such a counting book. The baker cooks different things counting up 1 on each item, such as eclairs, german chocolate cakes and so on until he gets ready to serve 13 people his baked goods. Though this counting book does more than an effective job to keep the children interested and help them learn how to count, I was not a big fan of the illustrations. The illustrations do not wow me as I am reading and actually they kind of creeped me out. I unfortunately believe this causes a problem for keeping the children interested in the book as one main component is the illustrations. I think this book would be best for pre-school students to kindergarten students as this is a key time for them to learn their numbers. All and all a nice counting book!

[☼Bookish in Virginia☼ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a cute concept book where the numbers 1 to 13 are explored.

The rhymes are fun, and the rosy cheeked baker is delightfully sweet and kid-friendly.

"With nuts of many sorts
he bakes ten little tortes."

"With fruit from mixing bowls
he fills six jelly rolls."

What doesn't quite work are some of the pictures. I don't know about you but when I sit down with little ones and a counting book, we count. Most of the items are large enough for tiny pointer fingers, but for the number 10, the tortes are ridiculously small and would require a high degree of accuracy.

The two pages at the end that have all the numbers partly makes up for this lapse, but it would have been nice if every example had been well done.

[Rebecca Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really adorable and tasty looking picture book about the baker's dozen. You really should not try to read this hungry, because the colorful, shiny cartoon illustrations look waaaay too good. This is a good counting book, but it does have harder words like pastry and eclair, so I was confused as to who the intended audience would be. I'd say K-1st is probably a good bet. One thing that bothered me is that the expression a baker's dozen means 13, as in you will get 13 rolls, but this story didn't really explain that at all.

red flags: none

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A baker counts to thirteen in The Baker's Dozen. Every number is a new sweet that he made to offer the crowd of 13 people when the bakery opens. It's a great book to incorporate counting each item. During storytime, we used our fingers which brought us up to ten. After our fingers we counted each foot, then our head. It went over very well.

--

A great book to talk about bakers and baking! This time we counted on our hands, feet, and noses.


2015 Winter storytime: Cupcakes
2015 Fall storytime theme: Baker
2019 storytime theme: Sticky

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Asho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this one definitely made me hungry! My three-year-old enjoyed talking about all the different baked goods and which ones looked like they would taste the best. I've been trying to get more counting books for him lately since I think he needs practice with number recognition, and this was a nice twist on the genre. I especially like how they show all the treats on the back cover for more counting practice.
My one-year-old would briefly pay attention to this one as well.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Baker's Dozen: A Counting Book is full of wonderfully expressive illustrations...in which we can all relate (well, those of us who like desserts, and who doesn't?). The baker bakes just enought of each treat...one chocolate eclair, two German chocolate cakes, three cherry pies,etc. A delightful book.

Used for "We Love Desserts!" storytime-May, 2010.

[Candice Mckinnon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Baker's Dozen is great for young children who are learning how to count. The book counts up to 13 using familiar food items that children love. The words and numbers are clear, colorful, and distinct. The pictures represent what is being stated. Teachers could use this book to introduce counting to young children.

[Allie Redmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! This is one of favorite counting books I have read in a long time. I love the illustrations in the book and I think that kids would love the colors. I would use this book for kids in are in the grades of K and 1st. It is a great counting book and would awesome for kids to have to learn how to do their counting and become stronger at it

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is my favorite counting book of all time! It's really a great little counting book written in rhyme. Of course, anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to bake and eat baked goods, so it's double the fun for me! This book will have you salivating by the end!

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most people, especially children enjoy baked goods. It was a smart idea to combine baked goods with the concept of counting, one through thirteen. I also liked that the last couple of pages of the book lists each number with pictures of the baked goods by quantity.

[Bekkah Riecke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another one that would fit into the community helper unit in pre-k and kindergarten, as well as reinforcing counting skills. The illustrations are fun and it goes all the way to thirteen which sets it apart from a lot of the simple counting books I have seen.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely pictures and unforced rhymes

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the illustrations. It's a cute counting book.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

an easy counting book with beautiful, beautiful illustration.

[Staggerlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with Andreasen's other two I've on here, fantastic art, this one pretty inventive in his take on the usu. counting book...

[Zonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A baker deliciously counts to thirteen

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes you hungry. But I like it because it counts to thirteen instead of the usual ten. And the illustrations are mouth-watering.

[Amy]

Really fun counting book for preschoolers! Loved the illustrations but am seriously craving a cupcake now...

[Mina Saeed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book to use for counting...
Prek and kindergarten

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have been a great book to use in our "icky-sticky" story time.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well done counting book with great illustrations, but sooooo not a good book to read when you are craving sweets. :)