THE HANDMADE COUNTING BOOK

Rankin (The Handmade Alphabet, 1991, etc.) returns with another elegant study of American Sign Language, demonstrating the count up to 100. The imaginative drawings show the hand in starting position, the direction of the motion, and the final position for each number. Some sequences are quite challenging, but the presentation is utterly charming: every page presents a number, shows the handwork, and, against a brown-paper background, a corresponding number of objects. Butterflies, wildflowers, toy dinosaurs, dolls, fish, and more are on display, while the last page furnishes inquisitive readers with the names of the objects presented—not just four butterflies, but an Adonis blue, a monarch, a purple spotted swallowtail, and a cloudless sulphur. (Picture book. 4-10)