One Carton of OOPS!

In the inaugural volume of the Christopher Counts math concept book series, a boy, sent to get a dozen eggs for his mother, has run-ins (literally) with a Saint Bernard puppy, a girl on a bike, some sneeze-producing flowers and a puddle. In the end he returns with four eggs--two more than she needs to make cookies. Former elementary school teacher Bradbury's rather contrived countdown lacks both the elements that would characterize a self-sustaining story and the snappy pace of a straightforward counting book. Instead, it reads as an extended story problem. Trachok's (Raccoon at Clear Creek Road) pared-down compositions make use of a bright array of repeating apple trees, tulips and abstract shapes, which offer more fodder for counting (the ""Discoveries"" activity page in the back points this out). The characters, close to faceless in the text, are literally so in the artwork: their faces are hidden by baseball caps, hair or just left blank. While the book is good-natured, the dual agendas of math lesson and picture book unfortunately remain ""two"" rather than becoming ""one."" Ages 5-7. (June)