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Rick's Books |
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Summary:
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The reader counts from one to twelve while guessing the answers to questions about nursery rhymes, names of the seasons, players on a soccer team, and other basic information. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Blurb:
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Are you ready?
Tell me yes. How many HOW MANYs can you guess? Count them, name them, ready, go! How many HOW MANYs do you know? And they're off! These encouraging words send twelve energetic children racing through the pages of this colorful counting book. Running, cycling, skateboarding, and skipping, each racer tackles a different HOW MANY question phrased and answered in sprightly verse. So readers can count up to twelve with the characters in the book and pick up other entertaining facts along the way: who jumped over the nursery rhyme candlestick, the names of the seasons, and the colors in the rainbow, to name just a few. With pictures as energetic and full of surprises as the clever verse, this is more than just a book of numbers--it is a counting celebration. |
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Awards:
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1997-98 Utah Children's Picture Book Award Nominee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Reviews:
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"This cleverly crafted, exuberantly illustrated counting book makes learning about numbers a joy." --
The Web Online Review
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"Children will eagerly approach learning the fundamental number concepts suggested in How Many How Many How Many " -- The Boston Globe . "Energetic verses and action-packed pictures encourage kids to learn other facts about the months of the year, seasons, the planets and favorite nursery characters." -- The Boston Globe . "This is one of those nifty books that works for a variety of reasons." -- Long Beach Press-Telegram . "The book would be ideal for preschoolers, but second- grade class I read it to jumped and shouted when they knew the answers." -- Long Beach Press-Telegram. "A multicultural troupe of 12 energetic children romp through the pages of this counting book." -- Wichita Eagle . "The nymphlike children and animals cavort in terrific watercolor paintings that have a rhythm of their own." -- Deseret News . "This is a sure-fire winner for children age 2 and up." -- Deseret News . "A clever mixing of numbers and nursery rhymes through questions..." -- The Sacramento Bee . "A combination of riddles, nursery rhymes, and Trivial Pursuit gives this nifty counting book its special twist...exuberant artwork is bound to welcome budding mathematicians to these pages." -- Publishers Weekly . "Here's the perfect introduction to the world of arithmetic, a cheerful counting book that covers the basics in verse....Colorful scratchboard illustrations and the lively rhyme make this math fun." --Lynne T. Burke in the Onese Valley Parent Magazine , Sept. 1996. |
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Dedication:
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For Ann--Let me count the ways. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Author Bio:
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Rick Walton is the author of sixteen joke books and one other picture book. He loves to read, travel, play the guitar, study foreign languages, and write for children, although he claims that recently most of his time has been spent counting. Rick Walton lives in Provo, Utah, with his wife, Ann, and his two sons, Alan and Patrick. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rick's Notes:
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One of my favorite ways of coming up with ideas is by playing with nursery rhymes. The idea for
How Many How Many How Many
came into my head while I was playing with "Jack be nimble". The rest of the verses came fairly easily.
I just made lists of all the things that I could think of that came in groups of each number. I stopped at twelve
because it seemed right, and because I couldn't think of anything good that came in groups of thirteen. I
selected lists that would be easy to illustrate.
The beginning and ending verse were suggested by my editor at Candlewick. The list at the end of the book was the illustrators idea. It's nice to work with people who have good ideas. One reason I put the naming into the book is because I had read E. D. Hirsch's book Cultural Literacy , and wanted to promote cultural literacy with the book. The naming part of the book has been very popular. When I do school visits I love to read the book and have kids just shout out the answers. It gets pretty chaotic from 7 through 12, but we all have fun. A couple of the lists are a little tricky for some kids. Sometimes when kids count the numbers on the phone, they count 1 through 10, instead of 0 through 9. And with the colors of the rainbow, kids usually miss "indigo". I guess "Roy G. Biv" just isn't drilled into kids today like it was when I went to school. At the same time How Many How Many How Many came out in hardcover the United States, a British version, How Many? , came out in paperback in England. I think the British title is shorter because England's an island, with limited space, so they conserve wherever they can. There are several other differences between the American and British version of the books. Some are cultural differences, some language differences, and some differences in editor's tastes:
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Rick answers questions about How Many How Many How Many
Curriculum suggestions:
: Ways to use How Many How Many How Many in your classroom, ideas for enrichment, and just general fun activities.
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