The Blunders: A Counting Catastrophe!

by Christina Soontornvat, Colin Jack (Illustrator)

One, two, three . . . Wait, who am I missing? The Blunder kids’ head count somehow keeps falling short in this funny and familiar tale.

It’s not even lunchtime, and already the ten Blunder children have messed up the laundry, the bathtub, and taking care of the animals. They are driving their mother up the wall. So she sends them out to play with just two rules: keep track of one another and make sure everyone is home by sunset. As the day draws to an end, each Blunder tries counting the others — forward and backward, in English and Spanish, and even by twos and three — but comes up with only nine. Uh-oh! Will their mother forgive the biggest blunder of all? Inspired by a common folktale, Christina Soontornvat shares a humorous story about ten kids who just can’t get things right, while Colin Jack’s adorable artwork lets readers in on the joke that each child is forgetting to count him- or herself.

Genres: Picture Books, Counting, Mathematics, Family, Humor, Childrens, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

Published February 11, 2020

About the author

Christina Soontornvat grew up behind the counter of her parents’ Thai restaurant in a small Texas town with her nose stuck in a book. She is very proud of both her Thai and her Texan roots, and makes regular trips to both Weatherford and Bangkok to see her beloved family members (and eat lots and lots of Thai food!). Christina is the author of the fantasy middle grade series, The Changelings, and the early chapter book series, Diary of an Ice Princess. Her forthcoming books include the middle grade fantasy, A Wish in the Dark, and All Thirteen, a nonfiction account of the Thai Cave Rescue.

In addition to being an author, Christina holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a master’s degree in Science Education. She spent a decade working in the science museum field, where she designed programs and exhibits to get kids excited about science. She is passionate about STEM (science, technology engineering, and math), and loves learning new things. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, two young children, and one old cat.

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mother sends the ten Blunder children out to play, cautioning them to keep track of each other and to return home by sunset. Happily, the children play by the creek, but when it is time to return home, the children count and count and count each other, and always come up with only nine. It is up to Mother to figure things out.

A little delight of a story.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This adorable book has so many hooks for elementary math! What a great way to show counting by 2’s, counting by 3’s, as well as fractions. Plus there’s even a bilingual element.

[Abi Cushman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brings me back to my childhood when all the kids in my neighborhood would spend the whole day outside and come home in time for dinner. What's great about the story is that even though it covers lots of different counting methods, it doesn't feel like a math lesson. It's just fun! And since readers are let in on the joke that each Blunder kid forgets to count themselves, they'll be sure not to make the same mistake when doing their own counting.

A fun story + bright, expressive illustrations make this STEM book a hit!

[George Rojas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Blunders: A counting Catastrophe by Christina Soontornvat, illustrated by Colin Jack is a story about the Blunder family siblings. Their mom tells the brothers and sisters she wants them back home at a specific time after she lets them go out to play. After realizing it is time to go back home the siblings encounter trouble when doing a head count. The book has a funny ending to it as the siblings realized they were counting wrong. Soontornvat incorporates numbers several times when the siblings are taking turns doing a head count. The children learn how to count up two the number 10 in pairs of 2’s, 3’s, backwards, and in order. As a whole, humor and the theme of family is added to the representation of numbers as both of these things are central aspects to problem the siblings face. This being said, the book lacks any sort of ethnic representation. All of the characters part of the picture book are white, which is interesting because the problem the siblings encounter when doing a head count can happen to anyone, especially to young children. Nancy Larrick’s article “The All-White World of Children’s Books” published in 1965 observes how the majority of books of that time were “as white as the segregated zoo of Golden Press” (pg. 64). This picture book’s decision to not include ethnic representation seems disappointing. It prevents children from making connections to the main goal of the book, which is to learn the different ways to count up to the number 10. Including representation would make this picture more relatable and transmit the knowledge involving numbers.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are ten kids in this family and one mother. Christina Soontornvat shares in the book flap that this stems from one told to her as a little girl by her father, but she has since learned that there are variations of it told all over the world. Ten children create such chaos one morning in the house that she sends them out to play to stay out until sunset! They do and have a fine time down by a stream. When they realize it's time to go, one called Betty calls for a headcount. Oh, no! She counts only nine; one is lost! Several others take a turn, some count backward, another counts by twos with the same result. Oh, oh! still not all! I imagine you who are reading this have started smiling, even laughing. I can't wait to read it to my granddaughters. What fun it will be! In addition to the fun tale, Colin Jack's challenge to illustrate ten children page after page in varying poses and expressions couldn't be easy, but he did it wonderfully. I returned to look at each child page after page to see the changes. The colorful illustrations add lots of whimsy to this hilarious story.
Thanks to Candlewick Press for the copy!

[Juliana Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute idea. Mother of ten is at her wits end. She sends the kids outside to play and tells them to be home in time for dinner. The kids are out having fun when one of them decides to make sure they haven't lost anyone. She counts them all (forgetting to count herself) and only gets nine. Another kid tries and gets the same result. The third kid tries, then the fourth... One counts by twos, one counts by threes, one counts in spanish, one counts backwards. (It's a lot of counting with nothing new happening. I just wish there was more to this part as the middle of the story seemed to drag. It's basically one joke repeated ad nauseam.) When they get home and finally admit that they have lost of their siblings, their mother kisses each one and shows them that they are all present and accounted for. (Adult solves the problem, is also a problem for me.)

[Shantell McCune · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Blunders: A Counting Catastrophe! By Christina Soontornvat Illustrated by Colin Jack
Published in 2020
Read aloud to elementary aged students. This book is about the Blunder family of ten children. On this day the children are driving their mother up a tree in annoyance as they have managed to mess up the many chores that a household requires. Their mother tells them to go outside and play with a couple rules. As the end of the day approaches, they children begin to count each other but always seem to come up short by one as they are forgetting to count themselves... How will mother respond to this? I thought that this book was super cute and would encourage children to think about a problem that the characters were encountering. It also gets them thinking about numbers and counting!

[Hope Lim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing that came to my mind after reading this book is how perfectly the counting catastrophe gets resolved in the end. The author, Christina Soontornvat, brilliantly mixed many elements, such as math, word play, humor, different languages, adventure, and family love to create a story full of blunders and twists. As I read this story aloud to myself, I was able to envision wild reactions from young readers as they shout out the counting blunders they identify. The sweet gesture in the end is the best possible solution to all blunders, intended or not, these little Blunders have made all day long in the story.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was making the transition from classroom teacher to school librarian, one of our assignments was to develop a lesson plan using a picture book to teach math concepts. I wish THE BLUNDERS had been around then! This is book is a hilarious read-aloud that incorporates many math concepts, from counting by twos to counting in Spanish. Soontornvat's use of humor and clever wordplay would be great at maintaining students' interest, as would Colin Jack's colorful, almost cartoonish illustrations. Recommended for school libraries and elementary school teachers.

[Kjersten · Rating 5 out of 5]

A funny math folktale that begs to be read aloud, THE BLUNDERS invites kids into STEM learning with giggles. Young readers can practice counting to 10, by twos, by threes, in Spanish, all while noticing and giggling along with the math blunder the relatable characters make on the way. And despite their errors, in the end the characters are loved as they are anyway. THE BLUNDERS is humorous and delightful read, a great addition to any classroom library for teachers hoping to make math fun and relatable.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are 10 kids and they count them several times, although mostly get only to 9.

They count using numerals (not number words), count backwards, count by 2s and count by 3s, as well as in Spanish (using number words).

I think kids will laugh at the mistake.

Read with How Many Donkeys?: An Arabic Counting Tale because it's the same mistake.

[Joana Pastro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this fresh, laugh out loud take on a counting book! This is a great addition to any bookshelf. What a way to make Math extra fun! Teachers and students will have a blast. Both children and adults can relate to the Blunders from the very first page. It’s a hilarious book that overflows with heart, and just made my day even better! Colin Jack’s fun and bright illustrations perfectly complement the text. A must read!

[Isabella Kung · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very humorous book about sibling fun and counting! Joyful to read from beginning till the end and never once feel like a typical counting book. All the actually counting parts of the book are cleverly woven into the main joke, which older kids will be completely in on. I love that it also explores many different ways of counting, from counting backward, to in 2s and 3s, as well as in Spanish! Great for STEM education!

[Carrie Finison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meet The Blunders - the silliest family since, perhaps, James Marshall’s Stupids. The ten Blunder children are trying to count each other but keep coming up one short whether they count by one's, two's, three's, even in Spanish. What is going on?? Readers will know, and they'll have fun seeing the Blunders try to count their way out of this catastrophe. Thumbs up on Christina Soontornvat's humorous math tale with a twist.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a home run! It's the story of the Blunders - a family with 10 children. They are driving their mother crazy when she tells them to all go outside but to be back by sunset. But when the kids try to make sure all 10 are accounted for before returning home, they keep coming up with one missing. Their antics are hilarious and I'm pretty sure your young ones will get what the problem is! It's delightful, adorable, and great fun!

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of ten siblings repeatedly count themselves making an off-by-one error (not counting whoever is doing the counting), but the best part is them counting in different ways. They're labeled with numerals several times, with number words in Spanish, and counted backwards, by twos, and by threes with numeral labels.

At the end, the kids fix their mistake, but forget to count their mother when divying up the pie.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mother sends the 10 kids out to play with orders to keep track of one another and return by sunset.
When it is time to go home, the children take turns counting each other and always come up one sibling short--despite counting forward, backward, by 2's, by 3's and in Spanish.
Ultimately, their mother 'finds' the 10th child and all is well.
Word play, visual humor, silliness, and a loving mother make this math lesson enjoyable!
Intended for lower elementary grades.

[Candy Wellins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who doesn’t love a fresh counting book? The Blunders are a family of ten kids who are directed to stay together while out playing. Each time a child counts to make sure everyone is there, the counter forgets to count his/herself...hilarity ensues as they try to figure out how they lost a sibling. Full of love and persistence, this is a great counting book for young readers.

[Larissa Marantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a self-described "numerically challenged" person, I laughed out loud at the blunders the kids experience when counting their siblings. I love that it shows different methods of counting and that despite that, all of the kids still came up with the same number. A fun book to read and really great illustrations.

[Julie Rowan-Zoch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can already hear laughs multiply in the classroom and students shouting out the errors as the Blunder children fail (equally) to count themselves - in numerous ways! Sure to become a greater-than read-aloud and prime addition to the classroom!

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ten Blunder children went out to play having been told to keep count of each other. When it came time to go home they couldn't seem to count 10 of them anymore! They had to tell Mother they lost one. Funny story and fun illustrations.

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun story that invites awareness of the ways in which one-to-one correspondence in early math development can become confusing.
Lively and easy to share, with young audiences giggling as they manage to figure out what is going wrong.
Oh, and pie!
never hurts to add pie in a picture book.

[Children's Literature Centre at FSU]

This story was cute and funny! The children were playing outside when they realized they needed to go in for dinner. When they were making sure everyone was accounted for they were only able to count 9 kids instead of 10. (Because they weren’t counting themselves)

[Elizabeth]

I lol'd during this book. It will be great for a classroom read.

[Jacki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic fool's tale style.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun counting book story where readers are in on the "joke" as the characters try to figure out the mystery.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute.

[Cyril · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silly, funny counting book that includes counting by twos and threes, and in Spanish.

[Nancy Messina · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is a silly story, yet Winry loves pointing out where the kids are going wrong. I like the math theme and the pictures and various methods for counting are great.

[Mark Therrien · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had my three kids laughing from beginning to end. A fun story with fun characters!