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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

1-2-3 peas, written and illustrated by Keith Baker. Beach Lane, Simon & Schuster. 2012. $19.99 ages 3 and up

"SEVEN
peas jumping -
splash, splash, splash!
EIGHT
peas racing - dash, dash, dash.
NINE
peas dancing - round, round, round,
TEN
peas building -
pound, pound, pound."

I know that Erin is going to love this book, while also gagging since it's about her least favorite vegetable - peas! She felt the same about LMNO Peas, 2010. I think it's good to have the little green guys back and I have great admiration for Keith Baker's work.

They are no longer interested in the alphabet; now, they are set to count, count, count. And they do...first by ones, then by tens. Readers will be counting alongside them, at every turn of the page.
Each cleverly designed illustration is fraught with little green men and their many activities. Keith Baker gives them character and imaginative clothing to help young readers find and count them. The numerals themselves provide a giant backdrop for the action, and often the focus for what it being carried out.

The peas are painters and pilots, divers and dancers. I love the ten carpenters with a pile of lumber and more nails than most would know what to do with, all pounding to their hearts' content. When we get to 11, the author moves us right over to twenty...with a skip, skip, skip! . The counting continues, now by tens. Each new ten takes up a double page spread and invites careful attention to the peas and their new work.

There is so much to see and count, that every new visit will turn up something not yet seen. From driving to drumming, they are busy with life. Don't miss the Peatles or Peayonce as you pore over the seventy peas singing page. Can you just imagine the fun that you are going to have when you share this with someone you love?

I know Erin is going to enjoy this book, as long as peas are not on any other menu!

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