Counting Dogs

Packaged in a horizontally-oriented cardboard box, this board book uses graduated pages and a crew of spotted dogs to take readers from one to 10. Turning the increasingly larger pages reveals the dogs encountering various animals that include two kangaroos (the dog hangs out in the pouch of the larger one), five owls, and seven bats. The text is limited to labeling the animals, but Barclay sneaks secondary opportunities for counting into his cheerful and crisply drafted images (the dogs%E2%80%99 spots correspond to the numbers on their respective pages, for starters), providing abundant chances for readers to work on their mastery of numbers. Ages 3%E2%80%935. Agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words. (May)