Enjoy this classic counting book and lively read-aloud featuring a family shopping for food, preparing dinner, and enjoying a meal together.
Count from one to ten—then count again! What does it take to make a feast for ten hungry people?
Shopping, cooking, setting the table—everyone in this loving family pitches in to create a colorful and joyful feast. Lively read-aloud text paired with bright collage illustrations.
January 30, 1995
A family's dinner preparations, from supermarket to table, are the foundation of what PW dubbed a ``cozy counting book.'' Ages 4-8.
June 1, 1993
PreS-K- In this rhyming counting book, an African-American mother and her children shop for and prepare a festive family dinner. At the supermarket, the count begins with one grocery cart and ends with ten hands helping to load the car. Back at home, the father joins in the preparations and the numbers build a second time to "ten hungry folks" seated around a table ready to share a tasty meal of fried chicken and greens. The successful rhyme scheme builds a natural rhythm that helps the simple text read smoothly. Collage illustrations combine colored paper, patterned fabrics, and felt in a clear, uncluttered design. Muted colors and simple shapes are set off by a stark white background. Most of the figures, especially the baby girl with her rounded limbs and bouncing braids, are animated and expressive. At times, however, facial features seem slightly stilted and relentlessly cheerful. Still, this is an appealing glance at a typical extended family. -Joy Fleishhacker, New York Public Library
April 19, 1993
Readers go from one to 10 twice in this cozy counting book, as an African American brood prepares a bountiful dinner for the extended family. Mother and the five kids start at the supermarket (``one cart . . . two pumpkins . . . three children''), unload groceries at home (with the father's help), do the cooking and then ``ten hungry folks'' sit down to dinner. Falwell's ( Shape Space ; the Nicky books) cut-paper illustrations are characteristically crisp and colorful--a homey touch is added by each page's numerals being fashioned from floral-print fabric. The family-centered images throughout exude warmth: fresh-baked pies, a baby asleep on its mother's shoulder, carrots being washed and peeled. Even though individual pictures seem a bit bland, the overall impression here is one of reassuring coziness. Ages 4-8.
January 1, 1993
Falwell has captured the warmth and love of an African-American family. As Mother and her children are shopping for and preparing the dinner meal, the focus is counting from one to ten. The brightly colored, collagelike illustrations depict the bouncing energy of the children and their attentive mother. The creative counting story will delight younger readers.
(Copyright 1993 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)