Animal Countdown

Counting down from 10 to one, Vaccaro Seeger (The Hidden Alphabet) offers readers concept-based puzzles both visual and tactile. Each spread features a number’s word form on the verso, set in chunky, translucent type against an unidentified habitat. On the recto, readers can guess the animal inhabitant based on textures peeking through a small, square die-cut window, which reveals a pattern that resembles the appropriate attending numeral. “Nine,” for example, appears against a grassy plain rendered in luscious smears of yellows, golds, and browns. The window in the deep red flap opposite reveals the numeral 9 in the shape of—could that be a tail? No, opening the flap reveals; it’s a curled trunk belonging to one of nine pictured elephants. These consistently inventive visuals, together with touching animal characterizations—the creatures, all threatened or endangered, often gaze directly into readers’ eyes—and pages made of heavy, smooth paper, make this book intriguing to both hold and behold. Back matter provides additional detail on each species. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)