By Elissa Grodin
Illustrated by Victor Juhasz
Sleeping Bear Press
www.sleepingbearpress.com
310 North Main Street, Suite 300
Chelsea, MI 48118
800-487-2323
Everyone Counts is a picture book about civics. It uses numbers as a vehicle to introduce various topics about United States government. Each spread features a number, a four-line rhyme connecting some aspect of government to that particular number, and some additional sidebar text.
The book does a good job of explaining some important, complicated concepts--the three branches of government and presidential term limits, for example.
My children didn't care for the caricaturistic illustrations (with out-of-proportion heads and exaggerated facial features), but some children might love them. The numbers used in the book don't follow a logical sequence (1-12, 15, and 20 to 100 counting by tens), and this also bothered my kids. The jacket states that this book is "for readers of all ages." However, the rhymes are a little difficult to follow by themselves; one must read the smaller text in the margin for full understanding, making the book more appropriate for the older elementary or middle school student. Some of the connections between the number and the government topic were a bit contrived.
All in all, Everyone Counts would be a good starting point for studying civics.
Product review by Kathy Gelzer, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, December 2006
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