Books for Preschool - 2nd Grade

Alphabet and Counting Books

Favorite Alphabet Books

Alphabet books come in all shapes and sizes! Some are designed to help children with letter and sound recognition, while others are designed to showcase the work of an illustrator or just to have fun with the alphabet. Here are some of our favorites:

JE/BASE
Base, Graeme - Animalia
This book presents a delightful puzzle for primary grade students. Each alliterative passage (i.e. lazy lions lounging in the local library) is illustrated by a magnificent painting filled with objects beginning with the corresponding letter. How many items can you identify?

JE/COHEN
Cohen, Izhar - ABCDiscovery: An Alphabet Book of Picture Puzzles
Fun for both beginners and independent readers, each two-page spread shows a list of 10 to 20 words beginning with a letter as well as a large color illustration that includes all of the listed words for the readers to find.

JE/DEMAREST
Demarest, Chris L. - Firefighters A to Z
This story follows a team of firefighters from the call of the alarm through their work to extinguish a house fire. The text is accompanied by dramatic artwork that comes alive with the yellows and oranges of the fire as the firefighters work.

JE/EHLERT
Ehlert, Lois - Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z
Take a colorful tour of the world of fruits and vegetables with this appetizing alphabet book. Large block letters in upper and lower case are accompanied by fruit and veggie names, also in both upper and lower case. A glossary in the back tells more about the featured foods.

JE/FAIN
Fain, Kathleen - Handsigns: A Sign Language Alphabet
Readers are introduced to both the English and the manual alphabet in this unusual ABC book. Each large, color illustration of an animal is paired with the corresponding letter in upper and lower case, and an inset picture of a hand forming the sign for the letter.

JE/HOBBIE
Hobbie, Holly - Toot & Puddle: Puddle's ABC
Puddle the pig tries to teach Otto how to write his name by painting pictures to illustrate each letter. After learning the letters, Otto practices writing his name and discovers that he and his friend Toot have a lot in common!

JE/HORENSTEIN
Horenstein, Henry - Arf! Beg! Catch!: Dogs from A to Z
Glorious full-page photos show dogs in action as they catch, jump and scratch their way through the alphabet. Upper and lower case letters, along with the words being illustrated, accompany the joyful pictures which are guaranteed to leave a smile on your face!

JE/LESTER
Lester, Mike - A Is for Salad
More advanced ABC-ers will be in on the joke when the pictures seem to conflict with the words in this unusual alphabet book. For instance, they'll be quick to spot the elephant dressed in large pink pajamas illustrating the "E is for pajamas" page.

JE/MCDONNELL
McDonnell, Flora - Flora McDonnell's ABC
Bold, over-sized paintings and upper and lower case letters are featured in this title. Each two-page spread contains a word in capital letters illustrated by a large picture and a word in lower case letters illustrated by a small picture.

JE/MAGEE
Magee, Doug - All Aboard ABC
One of our most popular books! Full-page color photos illustrate the alphabet from Amtrak to engineer to "zipping along tracks," making this a wonderful ride for all train fans.

JE/MARTIN
Martin, Bill - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Children love to chant along with the verse as the letters climb to the top of the coconut tree. This is one of the most energetic and colorful books in the collection, and a great way to learn the alphabet! Chicka chicka boom boom, will there be enough room?

JE/REY
Rey, H.A. - Curious George Learns the Alphabet
In Miss Lori's favorite alphabet book, the man in the yellow hat introduces Curious George to the upper and lower case letters of the alphabet. The letters themselves form the basis for the pictures, and you'll enjoy seeing the letters transformed into various objects and animals, from alligators to zebras!

JE/WILLIAMS
Williams, Laura E. - ABC Kids
Each letter of the alphabet is featured in a full-page, color photo of a young child interacting with an object representing that letter. A large capital letter and the word being illustrated are included on each page. Colorful, fun and great for beginners!

Favorite Counting Books

Counting books also come in all varieties. Many teach the basic numbers from 1 – 10. Others count down from 10, go beyond 10 to the teen numbers and a few count all the way up to 100. Here are some of our favorites:

JE/BAR
Barbie 1 2 3 Book
This oversized book provides limitless counting opportunities within its detailed color photos! Count page-by-page up to 20, then by tens to one hundred, and finally to one thousand.

E/DUKE
Duke, Kate - Twenty is Too Many
When 10 guinea pigs are afloat in a boat, readers count down one by one as the guinea pigs disembark. The principles of subtraction are introduced in this simple and fun concept book. Beginners will appreciate her earlier book, One Guinea Pig Is Not Enough, which counts up to 10 and introduces the concept of addition.

JE/EDWARDS
Edwards, Pamela Duncan - Roar!: A Noisy Counting Book
Little lion cub wanders away from home looking for a playmate, and counts the animals that he meets. This basic counting book covers the numbers 1 – 10, but the fun is in the rhyming text and the playful illustrations of the African savannah animals he encounters.

JE/GOLDING
Golding, Kim - Counting Kids
Each number from 1 – 10 is accompanied by a bright color photograph of children illustrating that number. Just right for beginners to count along!

JE/GERTH
Gerth, Melanie - Ten Little Ladybugs
Colorful, three-dimensional ladybugs on each page help bring this counting book to life! Readers count down the ladybugs from 10 as they disappear one by one with the turn of each page. Beginners can start at the back of the book and count their way up to 10.

JE/HOBAN
Hoban, Tana - Let's Count
Hoban's award-winning color photography and the clear, simple layout make this an outstanding counting book! For the beginner, the first pages feature large numbers paired with full-page color photos that illustrate each number. For the more advanced student, the book continues with the numbers from 11 – 20 and then by tens to 50.

JE/ISADORA
Isadora, Rachel - 123 Pop!
In a tribute to pop art, illustrator Isadora uses the color and energy of that art style to bring numbers to life. Although almost wordless, there's plenty to count and appreciate as the vibrant illustrations take you from 1 to 20, and then to 100, 500, 1,000 and finally 1,000,000.

JE/LAVIS
Lavis, Steve - Cock-a-Doodle-Doo: A Farmyard Counting Book
Young readers will get plenty of practice counting up to ten as they keep track of the various oinking, clucking and quacking farm animals which make up one very noisy farm.

JE/MACDONALD
MacDonald, Suse - Look Whooo's Counting
Wise old owl counts the animals she encounters on her moonlight flight. As she counts up to ten, the numbers are revealed to sharp-eyed readers in the paper-cut illustrations of this Caldecott Honor Medal artist.

JE/MCGRATH
McGrath, Barbara Barbieri - The M&M's Brand Chocolate Candies Counting Book
Use alone, or provide M & M's and have a wonderful time laying the candies out on the pages and counting them! In addition to counting to 12, children are asked to group candies into sets, lay them out in various shapes, and then subtract as they eat them up.

JE/MURPHY
Murphy, Stuart J. - Every Buddy Counts
When a young girl wakes up feeling lonely, she counts all her buddies from 1 hamster to 10 cuddly teddy bears.

JE/SCHUMAKER
Schumaker, Ward - In My Garden: A Counting Book
Beginners will love counting the residents of this charming garden, from one watering can to ten snails, and then by tens to 50 cherries. For the adventurous, try counting the 233 "plump little peas" on the last two-page spread!

JE/SZEKERES
Szekeres, Cindy - I Can Count 100 Bunnies: And So Can You!
Wilbur Bunny needs help counting all 99 of his relatives, so that they can meet Wilbur's new baby sister, the 100th member of the family. This is one of the few counting books that counts one-by-one to 100.

Prepared by SRP, November 2000