Heidi GoennelRecensioni

This number book was very simple in nature but great for beginning the task of learning to count. This book is complete with a number line on the left of each turn of the page. This greatly helps children who can't read just yet but can recognize numbers. The illustrations are simple and colorful as they should be for a book of this level. The only image/number correlation that they might be confused about is number eleven. it says "the eleventh hour" with a picture of a witch riding a bike.½

A number book starting from 1 going all the way to 13, its uses odds sayings to represent the numbers so I don't think it's very kid friendly. Even I didn't understand it. The illustrations were nice, I just wish they really represented the amount of the number shown. I agree with other reviewers about the title, I have no idea why it is called ODDS and EVENS.½

This book gives examples of familiar expressions that all deal with the numbers 1-13. I really don't think the title is appropriate because it doesn't explain anything about odd or even numbers.

I enjoyed this book because the imagination of the girl is very fun. When she is stirring paint she pretends she is stirring a witch’s stew, and when she walks on her hands she pretends she is in space. The girl plays with her cat, but pretends to train a tiger. Everything that seems boring to the little girl, she imagines it could be something better. Kids could learn that situations that may seem a little boring could be better with a little of imagination. While I am at work, I imagine being home and resting. This book influenced me.

This book gives examples of odd and even numbers through traditional sayings from 1-12. For example: a one-horse town, three blind mice, a four-leaf clover, etc. This book expains odds and evens in a cute and fun way that any young child would enjoy.

Heidi Goennel teaches children to count from one to thirteen in her book Odds and Evens: A Numbers Book. There are pictures of objects of interest to children, such as mice and a four-leaf clover. While children are counting, they are being introduced to common expressions. Hopefully, an adult can engage the child in a discussion about the meaning of the expressions. Throughout the book, children read the numbers in words, see the numbers as numerals, and count the number of objects, such as twelve stars. Furthermore, as they turn the pages, they are able to see the number in question in its appropriate position from one to thirteen.

The graphics leave a little to be desired. I would have liked to find a discussion about the difference between odds and evens.

The author uses thirteen familiar expressions to help children count. The illustrations are nice. The left page denoting the expression also has the number highlighted. The right page contains the highlighted number the expression is referring and illustrates it with items the expression talks about. I liked this book until I got to the last page. To me the expression and illustration on the last two pages are confusing. The expression reads "A baker's dozen and the number 13 is highlighted. A dozen if not 13, so why confuse a young reader who is just learning to count. For this reason I would not use this book.

This is basically a counting book. There are pictures with different animals and color to show how many the number equals. Good use for children just learning to count.

This is a beautifully colored and illustrated concept book. The vivid contrasts in the colors and the sing-song quality of the phrases used as text would make this book to read to newborns (who mostly see contrasts at first). This could be a favorite reread book for years to toddlers. The book would stimulate lots of conversation with slightly older children about the meaning of many of the phrases (such as one horse town). Since all of these things are important in building listening vocabulary in pre-schoolers, this is a worthwhile book. One thing the book does not do is delve into the meaning of its title Odds and Evens, although using sort of trite common sayings as text is the pattern of the book. The major concept explored is the counting numbers through 13 (baker's dozen). each number is illustrated with a beautiful illustration, which ennumerates the number. Equally charming is using common phrases such as "behind the eight ball" as text. Both of these formatting choices are elegant and simple, but can inspire explanatory conversations between reader and the child. The use of bold clean colors and the naive style of drawing unifies the book. There is a one-to-one counting correlation. This would be a fun book to read regularly to a child.

Critique:
Genre: This story could happen because it is about a child who wishes he/she can be a different animal. Many children may feel this way because they don't want to be who they are. However, since it doesn't actually happen, the story is realistic.
Setting: The setting of the story changes every time the child wants to be a different animal. For example, when he/she talks about being a frog, it would live in the pond, when he/she wants to be a camel, it would live in the desert. This helps children learn the different types of habitats that different animals live in.
Media: collage

I do agree with the review from Publisher's Weekly and yet I like this book. Perhaps more for older children, though. I wouldn't use it as a counting book, I would use more for a discussion about literary devices.

From Publisher's Weekly:
This cleverly conceived but unevenly executed counting book uses familiar sayings to proceed from one ("A one-horse town") to 13 ("A baker's dozen"); along the way are snippets of proverbs ("Two in the bush"), quotes from nursery rhymes ("Three blind mice") and figurative expressions ("Behind the eight ball"). Goennel ( Heidi's Zoo ) pairs each phrase with a bold and jazzy painting. Her stark figures, flat perspectives and brilliant palette pack visual appeal, but her choice of subject often fails to illuminate, or even to jibe with, the expression at hand. For example, her scene of a horse grazing outside a metropolis suggests the opposite of a "one-horse" town, while her witch cycling past 11 trees in the moonlight has no connection to the last-minute rush denoted by the idiom "the eleventh hour." Young readers may well be left at sixes and sevens.