Counting in the Garden

by Kim Parker

From extraordinarily talented and successful textile designer Kim Parker comes a gorgeous gift book brimming with insects, animals, and flowers.

In "Counting in the Garden," readers count from 1 to 10, searching among the colorful flowers for various creatures hidden among Kim Parker's lush garden scenes.

From butterflies to inchworms, ducklings to turtles, kids will love to seek and find the insects and animals that crawl, hop, and fly through the scenes created by textile designer Kim Parker.

Genres: Picture Books, Counting, Mathematics, Number, Gardening, Childrens, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure this would work in a group setting as the animals are hard to see, but it might be great one on one or two. It could be like an early look and find for young toddlers.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great concept, poor execution. The animals all blend in with the flowers and are very hard to see (think bunnies with multi-colored flower patterns on them instead of being brown or white). This would be a fun lap read where the child can find the animals, but not a good group read aloud.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous illustrations! Absolutely beautiful!

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A counting book set in a garden, this is one of those books that is pretty much all about the illustrations. I loved them! So colorful and full of fun and delightful details, but also a softness and gentleness, too. Very much like a flower garden! Children will probably enjoy finding the various creatures (bugs, dogs, cats) hiding in the flowers.

[سامية عياش · Rating 4 out of 5]

الألوان هنا لوحات ستغني الأطفال وتبهج مخيلتهم

[Jennifer Fischer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book with my 4 year old daughter in order to integrate counting practice with her interest in flowers. The text is fun and simple, which I find to be a great attribute of counting books. The illustrations are interesting and pretty enough to keep her engaged. However, some of the animals and insects that we counted were a bit difficult for her to find. Some of the items blend in with their surroundings and others are too small. It would definitely be a fun look and find type book, but at this age I much prefer a counting book with easy-to-find illustrations.

[Lagobond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeous, sweet illustrations filled with color and whimsy. The pictures are so fun and cheerful, they'd be great framed on a wall in a sunroom or kids' room.

The text is inconsistent, which really bothers me: some pages have alliterations ("5 dragonflies darting between the daisies," "8 bumblebees buzzing in the blooms") but others don't, which feels super clumsy to me. This is a pretty book for kids to quietly flip through and just enjoy for the images, or even to talk about what they're seeing, but I don't feel that the text adds anything.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning watercolor artwork brings nature to life as it helps the youngest readers count from one through ten. But the cat, the turtles, the dogs, the bunnies, the dragonflies, the ladybugs, the birds, the bumblebees, the inchworms, and the butterflies are all hiding among the profusion of brightly-colored flowers gracing each page and young readers will delight in searching out each of them as they count the numbers on each page.

This picture book, a treat for the eyes, is sure to delight readers young and old alike.

Highly recommended.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

On some pages, part of this is definitely finding the critters being counted. The illustrations are colorful and fun, but it all blends together.

Only numerals for most of the book, with the right number of things to be counted. The summary page uses the words "one" and "ten" with all the numerals from one to ten, but there aren't things to be counted for those on this page (not the original animals, not the flowers shown in the numerals). There are a couple of the types of animals from earlier in the book on that page, but in different numbers (more than ten, in one case).

[ErinTheLibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short text, one sentence per page. Bright, stylistic illustrations. Better for lap-sits than storytime (but still valuable for units on bugs, flowers, garden, animals, spring as long as a teacher points out the hidden animals)because the animals are stylistically camouflaged with flowers and leaves which might be hard to see in a group setting. The book can be a fun seek-and-find("5 dragonflies darting between daisies".

[Katrina Clohessy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may not be a particularly unique or original counting book, but the watercolor (?) illustrations of flowers are beautiful.
There's some alliteration, and a few of the creatures the child is supposed to count are rather well-hidden, making the book more interactive.

[AJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

11/2/22: This was just a so-so book for me. It is a pretty standard counting book with the items being counted somewhat blending into the garden scene of the picture. Not one I expect to be a favorite.

[Mother Goose Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Counting in the Garden is a sweet, counting book with gorgeous, watercolor paintings of flowers and animals within the illustrations. The artwork alone is worth getting yourself a copy of Kim Parker’s beautiful book. It’s a perfect springtime read.

[Annie Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really cute interactive book!

[Anne Lutomia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kim Parker writes, and illustrates a beautiful garden for young learners. A very interactive book on numbers, animals, insects, and garden vocabulary.

[Annie MacPherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I liked the almost look-and-find style composition of the illustrations. Nice use of symmetry, balance, and camouflaged elements on every page.

[Mrs Heet -Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a standard counting book involving outdoors, but the objects all blend in with the background making it hard to see. Might not be good for a storytime setting, and be better for one on one.

[Swear Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Counting in the Garden is a nonfiction/informational book. It is appropriate for children ages 3-5, although even I found it fun to read.
This book teaches counting and does so in a fun way. The illustrations are pictures of flowers in a garden and the reader has to find and count the things hidden in the flowers.
I like how they things being counted are well hidden and it allows the child to take time in counting. I liked the pattern on the bunnies and turtles. I liked the leaves and the detail that went into them.
This title is a good way to teach children counting to 10. The pictures are captivating. The images keep children's attention and then once they begin counting they are hooked.
I would use this book in working with children. It has amazing images and a simple concept to make counting fun. The only way to move forward in the book is to find the inchworms or bees and count them. Then it another insect or animal.
It works like a game. A book like this is something anyone can learn to appreciate.

[Missy Kirtley]

Counting in the Garden, by Kim Parker, is a wonderful tool to work on counting with your toddler or preschooler. The pictures are beautiful. My daughter loved looking through the flowers and the leaves to find the little animals, though sometimes she actually had problems finding all the things she was supposed to be counting. I think it's a beautiful work, and brought it home from the library to read with my daughter a few times before it's due back.

Hopefully we'll get my little girl to stop skipping five when she counts!

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read at Baby/Toddler Story Time on 4/12/11: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

Read at Toddler Lap Time on 2/7/13: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

Read at Toddler Lap Time on 2/8/13: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

[Stephanie Wycihowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book.. the illustrations are so creative!
I own this one and have used it many times and I am looking forward to digging this out this spring. Great counting book for early concept learners too!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the concept of the book is good, and the illustrations ARE beautiful, but I wonder if a young reader might get overwhelmed with the colors and pictures and not be able to pick out the different characters on each page

[jacky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a Spring storytime book at baby time. I really liked the illustrations. In a counting book, it really is the illustrations that make a great one a lot of the time because the numbers don't change from book to book!

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations. A book for counting practice. I prefer morozumi's One Gorilla, though. It works along the same lines, but also gives clear illustrations of, for example, what a group of ten objects look like.

[Elizabeth]

The pictures are gorgeous, but possibly too detailed for a story time group, since some of the creatures are fairly well camouflaged. Might work better when you can really get up close to the pictures. (Then again, the toddlers seem to have better eyesight than me, so who knows...)

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for the kids learning to count. It's beautifully illustrated and exceptionally eye appealing. It also uses some alliteration. Sentences are structured for beginning readers and counters. I would definitely use this book in a kindergarten or even preschool classroom.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

rating 3.5

Counting in the garden is a simple book about animals and insects that could possibly find in a flower garden. The animals and insects are camouflaged in the background of the garden, and the kiddos had a fun time finding and counting them.

Good for preschool storytime.

[Cymiki · Rating 4 out of 5]

visually gorgeous book. little ones will have fun finding all of the things that can be found in a garden. did not know kim parker's background in art and textiles

[سامية عياش · Rating 4 out of 5]

ما يميز "حديقة الأرقام" رسومه الجميلة المتدفقة بالحياة، فالبحث الطفولي عن الحيوانات الملونة بنقوش حيوية مبهجة هو جزء أساسي من هذا الإنتاج، وربما نتطاول لنقول كله..
كيم باركر فنانة تترك للحياة أن تتدفق في ألوانها، بمتعة

[Tweller83 · Rating 2 out of 5]

11/2/22: This was just a so-so book for me. It is a pretty standard counting book with the items being counted somewhat blending into the garden scene of the picture. Not one I expect to be a favorite. Decided to get rid of this one on 1/19/25.