I start my unit on counting principle with this book. I give the students a worksheet to keep track of how many islands, rooms etc. there are. The final question is how many jars are there. I usually have 3 or 4 students who catch on to the factorial concept and find the pattern. These are the ones telling me to read slower!!! It's exciting for students to see the math unfold in the second half of the book... after the story is over and they can begin counting little red dots (jars).

I teach third grade. Every year I use this book with my multiplication unit. The kids love it, and my TAG students are always challenged by the concept.

This book is an amazing way to teach the math concept "factorial" to even very young children. Anno begins with a jar, which contains 1 island, which has 2 countries, each of which has 3 mountains. The story continues like this until 10 is reached. I love the way the pictures are arranged within borders on the page as many times as that of the number of objects being discussed. The explanation of 10! in the back of the book is also very helpful in the lesson being taught. Even if children do not understand the concept being taught, they will certainly appreciate the detailed colored drawings and imaginative story! Lots of praise to Masaichiro & Mitsumasa Anno for their creation.

As a child I totally adored this book & I still love it now I'm older. The illustrations are charming and clear, and Anno manages to explain some really complicated concepts in a very simple way. The book teaches you how to make logical deductions in a series of fun, easy steps until by the end of the book you can solve really complicated puzzles. It's a real brain workout but fun at the same time - every child should have a copy.

As a preservice teacher, I used this book to write a lesson plan in mathematics for the elementary school level. This book even boggled my mind at times! Nozaki and Anno use hat "tricks" to develop binary logic and teach children the process of elimination. Kids will definitely feel a great sense of accomplishment as they begin to understand the concepts behind the hatter's tricks. The authors' creative "Shadowchild" character actively involves the reader and challenges him/her to figure out how the hatter is working his magic. This book is great for recreational reading or teaching. Highly recommended for developing critical thinking skills and integrating subjects at home or in school.

As in other Anno works, an anonymous Everyman is seen in each two-page textless illustration. In this book, the traveler begins his trek alone, buys a horse and rides through progressively more populated scenes -- magnificent scenes, filled with literary and artistic allusions, mini-stories, children playing, panorama and touching detail -- all at the same time! Scenes are viewed as if you were just outside the picture and about 40 feet high. The reader/viewer cannot see the details of people's faces, but much human experience and emotion is contained in small details -- children despairing after a lost balloon, flirting lovers, a mother touching her child, etc.

Your child will appreciate this work through many 'reading' levels, and you will constantly make new discoveries yourself.

Mitsumasa Anno's books are not to be missed, and Anno's Journey is a beautiful example of the author/illustrator's work.

Wonderful book. I take it on trips if I need a gift for a wide range of children. With no words, the reading level is not a factor. Full of visual jokes, historical buildings, modern characters hidden in the crowds, famous art and buildings, childrens games, similarities from one page to another ...

The parents love it even more than the kids. It takes days to spot all the interesting things hidden in this book and it's a painless way to talk about history and art with a child. PERFECT for babysitters to use.

Our children loved this book when they were toddlers. It is a wonderfully interactive book for children when they like playing peek-a-boo. The perfect book for a 1-2 year old!

I respectfully disagree with the publisher's review that this book is "pointless". Young children, just learning to read, learning geometric shapes (math!!), and exploring the wonderful world of make believe and their own imaginations, find this book to be quite delightful!! The only thing better than a good book? A well-loved, well-worn book!!

This book is truely a classic and I can say is one of my favorites it shows how the world is always going from one side of it to another and each country is represented by an author of that country, if you really want a keepsake get this book today!!!

Once again, Mistumasa Anno creates an awesome double story in Anno's Aesop. A boy, Freddy Fox, finds a book of Aesop's fables and begs his father to read them to him. The pages show both the pages of Aesop's fables and the words of the father as he "reads" it undearneath. The father creates stories to parallel the pictures. I always love the explanations in the back of Anno's books. Anno, from Japan, travels a lot but doesn't necessarily know the language. He supposes that if his son asked him to read something, he "might pretend" to read the book and so Mr. Fox is a look at Anno himself. I loved reading both the individual fables and ongoing story of Mr. Fox's interpretations. As always, Anno's illustrations are excellently done.

Before I had children, I wouldn't have appreciated the value of wordless books, but you cannot see one of Mitsumasa Anno's beautiful works without becoming an enthusiastic devotee of the genre in general, and Anno in particular. It is astonishing that these are difficult to come by -- at least one should be in every child's library!

As in other Anno works, an anonymous Everyman is seen in each two-page text-less illustration. In this book, the traveler begins his trek in the empty countryside of Italy, buys a horse and rides through progressively more populated scenes -- and what scenes they are! Filled with literary allusions, mini-stories, children playing, panorama and touching detail -- all at once! It would take a long time to describe even one illustration, let alone the whole book, but the content is rich and evocative. Your child will appreciate this work at various levels at different times, and you will make new discoveries yourself.

These books are not to be missed, and Anno's Italy is especially beautiful.

This is a beautifully designed book, very inviting to the eye. The book translates mathematical concepts into pictures and little stories which are, not incidentally, visually fascinating. The concrete and specific examples illustrated give children a pathway to the abstractions behind them, teaching them to think and use their native curiosity to develop knowledge. But didactic function of the book, as well thought out as it is, is almost secondary to the pleasure of taking in the beautiful designs and drawings. I think this is a book that a child will remember into adulthood.

Anno's illustrations are simple and beautiful. I grew up with this book, checking it out of the library again and again. My mother and I still enjoy looking at everything that Anno manages to get into so few pages. You will always find something new if you have sharp eyes. Can you find the cat in the branches? Or the shovel in the wall?

Anno's _Counting Book_'s first page features a barren hillside, with a frozen river snaking up the hill. Nothing to count here (unless your child points out the river, or the hill!). This is page zero.

On page 1, there is exactly one of several different items-- a bridge, a sun, a building, a snowman, a skier, and more. On page two, there are two of each item presented-- two leafless trees, two trucks, two men, a steeple clock set at 2 o'clock, two rabbits. You get the idea.

There are no words on the pages-- this makes the book an ideal text for teaching the names of these items, too. My child asks "What's that?" when he doesn't know what an item is. Then he repeats the name after me.

Some features of a distant hillside are special (think individual tiny flowers, or butterflies) can not be seen by a distant viewer, but Anno has adjusted for this in his book. Items which are small in real life, such as flowers and butterflies, are presented out of scale in this book, so that the reader can appreciate them along with the other items, such as buildings and people.

The pages 1 through 12 represent the 12 months of the year in a continental climate in the Northern Hemisphere, so 1, 2 and 12 are wintry, 3, 4, and 5 represent springtime, and so forth.

Anno's book is nicely laid out and designed. The pictures are a bit old fashioned, but it is well thought out and should appeal to children for several years, as the pages with higher numbers are more cluttered and therefore more difficult. They also offer more opportunity for creating one's own story as the reader sees such actions as marriages, fencebuilding, caroling, and children playing.

THis is a must have for young children. There is no text and only one number on each page. However, this book is a delight.

On page one exactly one of everything appears, on page two you two of more things and on page ten you see ten of many things. As the numbers grow higher the little town grows and the seasons change. THis enables you to discuss counting with your child as well as tell a story about the little town. You can also talk about seasons. What a wonderful multi use book. The illustrations are gentle and are not garish.

This is truly an excellent book. Well worth the money.

Mitsumasa Anno creates graceful children's picture books that are more evocative than prose and more elegant than poetry. In this counting book, the author/illustrator allows the concepts of number, sets and arithmetic progression to unfold in pages, numbered one to twelve, that also correspond to the first through twelfth month.

Seasons evolve as a little town grows, children play, trees appear, animals pass through, and the clock marks the hours.

Like Anno's other books, this little gem can be enjoyed year after year as children (and adults) continue to find more complex concepts as their cognitive understanding matures.