If You Take a Pencil

by Fulvio Testa

Describes how a pencil may be used to draw cats, birds, fingers, orange trees, and other objects, in quantities from two to twelve, interrelated in a fanciful fashion.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 30, 1985

About the author

children book illustrator

Reviews

[Melissa Namba]

a good counting book with a dose of imagination.

[Judith]

As always Fulvio Testa has produced a beautifully illustrated book with lots to discuss and count with youngsters.

[Kimberly]

Very cute counting to ten book with moral of story. Love how it reminded me of If You Give A... books by Laura Numeroff but with a different style.

[Jenna Mills]

Sweet

[Tiff]

What a fascinating counting book. I think it's ingenuous. Great book for counting during storytime.

[Libby]

Genre: Picture Book; Fiction; Concept: Math
Age: PreK-2nd
Lexile: NP
Synopsis: A drawing book that turns into a counting book, that grow into a story book: "If you take a pencil, you can draw two cats...And if they like each other, there will soon be three." A fantasy counting story, told by a pencil.
Concepts/Ideas for Instruction: Math: Counting, Sequence; Language Arts: Writing/Illustrating; This book can be used as an example for journal writing—in any subject. It shows students how one page is not always finished, and there is always room for improvement, or additional information. This book offers an example of problem-solving strategies, with something unexpected on each page.

[Michelle]

I really enjoyed the way this book shows how far your imagination can go, even when simply drawing with a pencil. I also like that it incorporates counting numbers up to twelve.

[Shannon]

This was recommended at the end of the "Reading Rainbow" episode that featured "Liang's Magic Paintbrush." We liked it. It is an interesting premise.