"To keep 24 snails happy and fat,
I will grow a giant head of lettuce.
I will not clean my room for a week or maybe a year!
But I will collect trash in the park with Mama hedgehog
and her 27 happy hoglets."
This is welcome companion to Ms. Dek's earlier book, When I Am Big (2018). This one aims at attracting older kids. It is for those who can imagine a future life in terms of numbers and how to use them. In their minds they can imagine having an idea every 9 seconds, or building a robot that can do 16 different things, or holding a breath underwater for 35 seconds, or building a snowman out of 37 snowballs.
With every turn of the page, readers see more gleeful flights of the imagination that just might come true, if the child doing the imagining does their best to accomplish the promised feat. Wonderful watercolor illustrations provide energetic color, careful counting, and intricate planning that bring each promise to fruition. There are many surprises and plentiful giggles as readers meander through the pages, stopping to ensure that art matches text. At the end, when they reach 100, they will have already practiced their big number prowess many times. What's more fun than making a point and proving that counting only becomes a bit more of a challenge as children get 'bigger'.
The best thing about sharing this fun book is that it is sure to encourage readers to try to make a list of their number wishes and dreams. Perhaps the artists in the classroom could provide art to match the imaginings.
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