Everybody Counts

by Matt Forrest Esenwine, Emma Graham (Illustrator)

"Everyone is helpful, in large and small amounts.
Everybody matters. Everybody counts!"

So begins Everybody Count!, a creative foreign language counting picture book. Get a taste of diversity as you explore this far-reaching festival of food and count your way to a full plate of fun.

Genres: Picture Books

40 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2023

About the author

As a radio broadcaster, Matt spent a good deal of time writing and producing commercials and comedy bits. He also wrote poetry, which was published in various national journals and anthologies including the Donald Hall tribute, "Except for Love" (Encircle, 2019). Little did he know all this short-form writing would lead to his debut picture book, the Kirkus-starred "Flashlight Night" (Astra Young Readers, 2017), which was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the Best Books for Kids 2017 and even showed up on Encyclopedia Brittanica’s list of “11 Children’s Books That Inspire Imagination.”

Matt now has more than a dozen books to his credit including "I Am Today" (POW! Kids Books, 2022), which received the 2023 NH State Literary Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature, and "Once Upon Another Time" (Beaming Books, 2021), co-authored with Charles Ghigna (aka, Father Goose®), a book that ALA’s Booklist called “a necessary addition to picture book collections.”

Meanwhile, Matt's children’s poetry can be found in anthologies like "The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry" and "The Poetry of US," (National Geographic Children’s Books, 2015 & 2018), "Construction People" and "School People" (Wordsong, 2020/2018) and 'Highlights for Children' magazine.

Matt may be an adult, but he refuses to be a grown-up. Feel free to connect with him at https://www.MattForrest.com!

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everybody Counts has so many entry points: animals, food, culture, language, counting... A play on words also encourages readers to consider its title's deeper meaning: everyone matters. Highly recommend!

[Kellee Moye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esenwine’s Everybody Counts shows the ties between us all as it counts through 12 different languages along with animals from that country sharing now only the language with us but also food and culture of each country. Each spread is so thoughtfully created with colorful illustrations of each animal and their favorite food fill the spread.

Full review with teaching tools: https://www.unleashingreaders.com/25985

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yesssss. I love this. The set-up is great—families arrive for a kind of international cuisine fair, and we get to tour the different booths at the fair, learning about the food from different countries and the languages spoken, including counting from 1-10. I feel like so much information is packed in an accessible way, and easy to read with it’s great rhymes. I definitely recommend this book. I love books that celebrate cultures of the world.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was able to review an advanced reader copy of this book. I will certainly be using this in my classroom, as a counting book, a cultural exposure reference and as a springboard to exploring other languages. The illustrations are educational and adorable!

[Candace Spizzirri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by prolific author Matt Forrest Esenwine! This one has something for every age. With rhyming main text and sidebars full of fascinating facts, this one is a winner. The beautiful illustrations by Emma Graham will delight all readers. EVERYONE COUNTS! A must-read. I 100% recommend this book.

[Mirka Hokkanen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked that there are many ways to read this book, and it holds up to multiple readings as you explore flags, food, and counting. I think it is a great starting off point to then go explore what different languages sound like and other cultural topics. I wish there would have been a more diverse representation of cultures from around the world, for example Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and Portugal are all close to each other in Europe. I would have loved to see Pacific Islanders, Australia, South America and other more diverse destinations explored, but that leaves room for a second book in a series, and as I said I feel like non-fiction books like these are always a great starting off point for wider discussions and explorations with kids.

[Angela De Groot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vibrantly illustrated EVERYBODY COUNTS is not your typical counting concept book. It is a festival of different cultures, languages, food, and animals. Each spread is dedicated to a country and culture like Greece, Germany, Sweden, and Japan. Each spread celebrates a culture and its favorite dishes like tabbouleh, vitumbua, souvlaki, and buñuelos. There are fun facts and we can learn to count to 10 in all these different languages. This lovely picture book encourages us to share food, language, and culture with kindness and fun because everybody matters and everybody counts. Wonderful!

[Catherine Ciocchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everybody Counts is a global special delivery of language, math, and cuisine for young readers. The illustrations and text show us traditional foods along with how to count to ten in each country’s language. It’s a unique creation that ties in what’s really important to all of us. It is truly robust!

[Julie Abery · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delicious celebration of countries around the world, cooking, and counting to ten in their languages. The lovely art features animals making local food specialties, flags, and extra notes on those languages and how the dishes are made. An original take on a counting book, which would work very well in classrooms.

[Katie Mazeika · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much too love about this book! The author uses numbers to connect animals, food and cultures from around the world. It’s filled with fun facts and teaches the reader how to count to ten in multiple languages. A great story to be read over and over again!

[Bonnie Kelso · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will definitely whet your appetite for counting! Great for classrooms, too. We learned something new about a cultural food on each page. The illustrations are charming as well.

[Roxanne Troup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive rhyme skills in this quick introduction to countries around the world.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique counting book in 12 languages!Learn to count and learn a little about food!