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Jesse Bear
Let's Count It Out, Jesse Bear
On a trip to an amusement park, Jesse Bear counts things from one silly (giggle) to ten rocks, counting on up to twenty at the end of the book.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1996
59 people want to read
About the author
Nancy White Carlstrom
74 books24 followersNancy White Carlstrom has written more than 50 books for children, including the Jesse Bear series with illustrator Bruce Degan.
Born the daughter of steel mill worker William J. and Eva (Lawrence) White, Nancy White Carlstrom was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, on August 4, 1948. She practiced writing poetry, enjoyed reading books like Little Women, and wanted to become a children’s book author at an early age. Carlstrom worked in the children’s department of her local library in Washington during her high school years. She graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, majoring in Elementary Education and earning her B.A. in 1970, also studying at Harvard Extension School and Radcliffe from 1974 to 1976. In September of 1974, she married David R. Carlstrom, later a pilot and a marketing director at Fairbanks International Airport. They had two children—Jesse and Joshua.
She draws inspiration from her 18 years living in Alaska, volunteer experiences in Africa and Haiti, and raising her two sons.
Born the daughter of steel mill worker William J. and Eva (Lawrence) White, Nancy White Carlstrom was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, on August 4, 1948. She practiced writing poetry, enjoyed reading books like Little Women, and wanted to become a children’s book author at an early age. Carlstrom worked in the children’s department of her local library in Washington during her high school years. She graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, majoring in Elementary Education and earning her B.A. in 1970, also studying at Harvard Extension School and Radcliffe from 1974 to 1976. In September of 1974, she married David R. Carlstrom, later a pilot and a marketing director at Fairbanks International Airport. They had two children—Jesse and Joshua.
She draws inspiration from her 18 years living in Alaska, volunteer experiences in Africa and Haiti, and raising her two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 25, 2017
So on to the Counting Books requirement for Children’s Literature class and as our school library had a copy of this book and I figured it would be nice to find out what kind of books are out there for kids to learn to count with. This story revolves around a little bear who finds everything in his world to count ambitiously going all the way to twenty. The mix of real life things like three people in a photo and five crabs was cute and I tried to stay with the book even when I felt they were reaching with nonsense counting items like one silly.. but thought the illustrations really tied the book together and made it relatable As Jesse Bear counts things and also spends the day with his mother and father another aspect I was really a fan of was how they also incorporated addition skills at the bottom of the pages so children can get used to and identify mathematical language as they learn their numbers.
February 16, 2024
I liked this book! It goes through the numbers 1-20 so I would say ages 1st-2nd grade. There is a poem about each number and fun pictures to keep children interested and paying attention. I would want to include this book in my classroom!
March 2, 2025
Fun book for a math lesson! Is about a family of bears and different things they do and counting. Each day page is a new number and has a fun rhyme following it. Could be fun if we did a counting lesson, or even if we were talking about rhyming words
August 15, 2017
Jesse Bear, What will you wear? was a page turner. This one has a lot of words on one page. We just skipped the long poems and did the counting.
March 27, 2019
Great counting book.
December 19, 2016
So far, the Jesse Bear books have covered a variety of concepts - clothing, time, water, holidays and birthdays. With this sixth addition to the series, we finally come to numbers.
This book is more similar in format to It's About Time, Jesse Bear than to the other books I've reviewed, but it also adds some more content to facilitate learning numbers. On the very first page, for example, Jesse Bear comes bursting out the front door with a funny mask. The accompanying poem, which appears on the left-hand side of the page is called "One is Fun." On the right side, in the lower right hand corner, there is a box that shows the numeral 1, the word one, and a picture of what is being counted, which in this case is "One silly." The book continues counting to ten in a similar vein, then continues on past ten counting everything from wheels to raindrops, all the way up to 20.
While I thought the first couple of Jesse Bear books would work best with ages two and three, the concept books with longer poems, like this one, really start to deal with concepts that also grab the attention of four year olds, and even five year olds. This book also introduces simple addition. At the end of the page about the number two, the poem says, "1 and 1 more are 2." At the end of the poem for the number three, entitled, "We Three" we're told "2 and one more are 3." And on and on that pattern goes, throughout the end of the story. This is the kind of book that a child can visit again and again throughout those early years, taking something new away from it at each developmental stage.
The other thing I loved about this book were the subtle ways the illustrations incorporated math and numbers. The title page shows Jesse bear playing with dominoes, and matching them up according to the number of circles on each side of a given domino. Two pages later on the dedication page, Jesse Bear is counting the money in his piggy bank, using math in a different way. I thought that was such a clever little way to introduce the topic for this book to kids who can't yet read the words on the front cover of the book.
Though each page in the book is unique and fun to look at, my favorite is definitely "Nine is Fine," because there stands Jesse Bear at the bathroom sink, wearing nine Band-Aids on his face. I don't know what it is about Band-Aids, but every kid seems to be fascinated with them at some point during childhood - myself included.
Another hit, as far as I'm concerned. Not my favorite of the bunch, but definitely a good, solid book for teaching numbers in a fun and enthusiastic way.
This book is more similar in format to It's About Time, Jesse Bear than to the other books I've reviewed, but it also adds some more content to facilitate learning numbers. On the very first page, for example, Jesse Bear comes bursting out the front door with a funny mask. The accompanying poem, which appears on the left-hand side of the page is called "One is Fun." On the right side, in the lower right hand corner, there is a box that shows the numeral 1, the word one, and a picture of what is being counted, which in this case is "One silly." The book continues counting to ten in a similar vein, then continues on past ten counting everything from wheels to raindrops, all the way up to 20.
While I thought the first couple of Jesse Bear books would work best with ages two and three, the concept books with longer poems, like this one, really start to deal with concepts that also grab the attention of four year olds, and even five year olds. This book also introduces simple addition. At the end of the page about the number two, the poem says, "1 and 1 more are 2." At the end of the poem for the number three, entitled, "We Three" we're told "2 and one more are 3." And on and on that pattern goes, throughout the end of the story. This is the kind of book that a child can visit again and again throughout those early years, taking something new away from it at each developmental stage.
The other thing I loved about this book were the subtle ways the illustrations incorporated math and numbers. The title page shows Jesse bear playing with dominoes, and matching them up according to the number of circles on each side of a given domino. Two pages later on the dedication page, Jesse Bear is counting the money in his piggy bank, using math in a different way. I thought that was such a clever little way to introduce the topic for this book to kids who can't yet read the words on the front cover of the book.
Though each page in the book is unique and fun to look at, my favorite is definitely "Nine is Fine," because there stands Jesse Bear at the bathroom sink, wearing nine Band-Aids on his face. I don't know what it is about Band-Aids, but every kid seems to be fascinated with them at some point during childhood - myself included.
Another hit, as far as I'm concerned. Not my favorite of the bunch, but definitely a good, solid book for teaching numbers in a fun and enthusiastic way.
November 25, 2012
Let's Count It Out, Jesse Bear by Nancy White Carlstrom is personally one of my favorite children's books. It is a rhyming book that reenforces how to count in a way that teaches that if you add one more you'll get to the next number. On the fist page Carlstrom writes:
"It started out a tickle
Deep down inside of me.
It turned into a giggle
And came out a Ha! Ha! Hee!
It romps and stomps
And roars about
Hurray! Hurrah! Hurroo!
And no--watch out!
It's coming-
One Silly will get you..."
The book continues on and engages the reader with it's words and pictures. The illustrations are detailed, cheery, fun and allow the reader to count along with the text. I think the book would be an excellent addition to a classroom and could be used to visually , and explicitly show students how to count.
"It started out a tickle
Deep down inside of me.
It turned into a giggle
And came out a Ha! Ha! Hee!
It romps and stomps
And roars about
Hurray! Hurrah! Hurroo!
And no--watch out!
It's coming-
One Silly will get you..."
The book continues on and engages the reader with it's words and pictures. The illustrations are detailed, cheery, fun and allow the reader to count along with the text. I think the book would be an excellent addition to a classroom and could be used to visually , and explicitly show students how to count.
March 11, 2010
Colorful and busy counting book with the extra feature of basic addition added in. We didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as we did other books in this series - the counting was too forced and the poems were too long. It just didn't hold our girls' interests very well. The pictures are fun, though.
September 29, 2016
I really liked this counting book. However, I would have liked it a lot more if the book had a story line and not just a new scene for every number. The booked seemed a little unorganized. One thing I really like about the book is that the numbers went beyond 10. It seems like most counting books only go to 10 and this one goes to 20.
April 9, 2009
A bit different than I would have expected -- a counting, rhyming, poetry book. I liked the way they showed different ways to display each number. For example "7 Stars" and "Seven Stars" and a drawing of 7 stars in the sky. This one can go back to the library now.
June 27, 2016
This is of my favorite Jesse Bear books. Even though I had a severe allergic reaction to the book I got from the library I had to finish reading it through. I can't wait to get my hands on a "clean" (read: non fungal) copy and read it again.
February 21, 2009
Not what I expected. A book of poems about numbers.
October 13, 2009
Kind of long for a counting book-easy to lose track of it's purpose.
April 9, 2012
Our entire family loves all the Jesse Bear Books! There a must & get read at least once for bedtime every week!
November 13, 2012
'eh. I like the font and rhythm and flow of the others that I have read over this one.
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December 8, 2014It has super good illustrations. I really recommend it to people who are named Jesse Wayne James. It's a good book for new counters.
September 21, 2015
Let's Count It Out Jesse Bear, is a cute, great book to read to beginning learners who are just starting to count.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews