Birthday Counting

by Barbara Barbieri McGrath, Peggy Tagel (Illustrator)

Overview

Looking for a board book that celebrates birthdays? Look no further! Birthday Counting is the perfect choice for baby’s birthday party! This festive board book introduces counting in reverse from six to one, with all the typical trappings of a birthday fete, including cakes, balloons, and presents. This book is part of the First Celebrations series, which also includes Easter Counting, Halloween Colors, Vanlentine's Shapes, Christmas Colors & Counting, and Thanksgiving Counting! Round out the series with this new fun and colorful book about the most important day of the year — your birthday!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580895378
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	06/06/2017
Series:	First Celebrations Series
Pages:	12
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 6.80(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Barbara Barbieri McGrath has written over twenty books for children, including The Little Gray Bunny, The Little Red Elf, and many bestselling math concept books. Her love for writing, children and making learning fun was the inspiration for her first children's book, The M&M Brand Counting Book, which sold over 1 million copies. She lives in Natick, Massachusetts.

Peggy Tagel's bright, colorful cutpaper illustrations have been reproduced for a variety of products, including cards, gift wrap, children's books, and magazines. She illustrated all seven books in the First Celebrations series. She lives in North Port, Florida.

Read an Excerpt

Welcome to the birthday party! 

Six colorful balloons help decorate the room.

Breaking the piñata is fun. Five treats fall out.

Four candles are on this cake. Take a deep breath and blow!

Editorial Reviews

2017-04-17
McGrath welcomes readers of this latest celebratory offering to a birthday party, where objects such as treats from a piñata, presents, candles, and friends offer counting opportunities, from six balloons down to one goody bag filled with candy. The festive illustrations and bold images are colorful, and the simple text set in large white type has little rhythm. "5 / Breaking the piñata is fun. Five treats fall out." The five children in the book have skin colors ranging from white to brown, but the expressions on their faces are exactly the same. The four candles on the birthday cake may not correspond to the age of the child reading this simple and basic board book, offering a point of confusion. Cut in the shape of a birthday cake with four candles, this book also suffers from the same cropping issues that have plagued other books in the First Celebrations series, resulting in balloons that are incomplete and gouging into the children's heads. To give 1- or 2-year-old children a birthday book they can really enjoy, count on Karen Katz's Where Is Baby's Birthday Cake? (2008) or Jo Lodge's Happy Birthday, Mr. Croc! (2015). Cutesy but insubstantial—this is one to skip. (Board book. 9 mos.-2)

Kirkus Reviews