Picture This: Count the Monkeys

Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Kevin Cornell

Can you count the monkeys?

This is no ordinary counting book. It's interaction at its best. On the title page we get ready to count the monkeys but are interrupted by 1 cobra, who is then chased off by 2 mongooses (or is it mongeese?), who are frightened off by 3 crocodiles, and so on. We start to wonder if we're ever going to see any monkeys! Throughout, Barnett converses with the audience and gives them instructions. "Move your hand in a zig zag whie you turn the page--it will confuse them," he says of the crocodiles. At another point: "Was that your idea? Because it wasn't mine." It's a book where kids will be shouting responses and having a fantastic time laughing and watching what unfolds on every page. And when you think it's all over, you turn the page to reveal a terrific surprise on the endpages.