Hello Hello Numbers

by Brendan Wenzel (Illustrator)

Caldecott Honor–winning illustrator Brendan Wenzel’s irresistible animal images take the spotlight in this new series of concept board books for young children, based on his award-winning picture book Hello Hello.

Say hello to early learning concepts and the wild world of animals!
 
Little ones will learn their numbers with the help of one orca, six flamingos, and twelve zebras! More than a dozen wonderful and endangered creatures from earth, sea, and sky parade across the pages and show the beauty and variety of our planet. A key at the back of the book identifies the animals for even more nature fun.

LEARNING A charming collection of wild animals—three rushing rhinos, four pointy porcupines, and five playful otters—introduce young children to the fun of counting!

WONDERFUL INTRODUCTION TO Kids will enjoy discovering the dazzling variety of animals in nature, from a pair of prowling leopards to a school of swimming fish. An answer key at the back identifies the names of each animal in the book.

FUN TO READ Simple rhythmic text and funny, appealing pictures make a joyous read-aloud experience for parents and children.

NATURE BOOKS FOR This new series celebrates the richness of animal life with a gentle underlying message of the importance of saving endangered species and caring for the environment.

BELOVED AND BESTSELLING Brendan Wenzel is a bestselling Caldecott Honor–winning artist and a sought-after speaker at schools and libraries. His books They All Saw a Cat, Hello Hello, and A Stone Sat Still have received multiple starred reviews and state awards and are family and classroom favorites.

Perfect of Brendan WenzelParents, grandparents, caregivers, and educatorsPreschool and kindergarten level readersAnyone looking for early concept board books with compelling visuals or a fun, interactive family read-aloud bookGift-giving for baby showers and toddler birthdaysAnimal lovers and fans of number books like Excavator's 123: Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site; Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You See; The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats A Counting Book; I Know Numbers!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Counting, Childrens, Number

34 pages, Board Book

Published June 24, 2025

About the author

Brendan Wenzel is an author and illustrator based in upstate New York. His debut picture book, They All Saw a Cat, was a New York Times bestseller and the recipient of a 2017 Caldecott Honor. An ardent conservationist, he is a proud collaborator with many organizations working to ensure the future of wild places and threatened species.

Reviews

[Stephanie Tournas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loose rhyming text and playful mixed media artwork introduce youngsters to numbers and endangered animals. “Hello” repeats throughout: in the spread for ‘One’, a “1 frog splashes in the sun./Hello One./The count has begun.” The author has had to take some poetic liberties as he endeavors to find a phrase or word that rhymes with each animal’s group name. I enjoyed his creativity! “4 porcupines in a prickle./Hello FOUR./Count quick. They’ll stick ya! is an example and it comes through charmingly. The animals are realistic but have that Brendan Wenzel touch of goofiness. I like that he includes humans in the book, in a cameo of two kids, one brown skinned and one white.

There is information on the status of the animal, whether near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered and a section on the animals’ group names. Readers are invited to visit the website of the International Union for Conservation of Nature for more information. Very young children will get a sense that the world’s animals are not an infinite resource, and will love the repetitive nature of this entertaining counting book.

[Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Already named one of Amazon Editors’ Best Children’s Books of 2025, the newest in Wenzel’s Hello Hello series teaches toddlers about animals and counting. In each of Wenzel’s Hello Hello board books, he features threatened, vulnerable, and endangered species while also teaching the concepts of shapes, opposites, colors, and now numbers.

From one to twelve, toddlers will learn to count on the pages while counting otters, gorillas, turtles, zebras, and more. The mixed-media illustrations of the animals are accurate yet quite adorable. As in the other books, he shares the status of all the animals mentioned in the book regarding their endangerment. He also teaches about the various group names of the animals mentioned, such as a leap of leopards or a band of gorillas.

This series is the first one that my great-nephews ask me to read to them. They are always fascinated by the names of various animals and love looking at the pages over and over.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This title is part of a five book board book series Wenzel has recently published using endangered animal species as the illustrations. This is the title I like best in the series as it does counting to twelve and gives the collective noun name for each species.
Even with the sparse text appropriate for board books there is action words describing the animals and the text propels one to the end.
And there is nothing like a tower of giraffes or a zeal of zebras and how about a prickle of porcupines!

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of course great artwork because Brendan Wenzel, and I'm always a fan of collective nouns, but the meter did not work at all and so this will not work for me as a readaloud.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this series <3