Readers count from one to 10 and then jump from there to 15, 20, and 25 in this picture book featuring creatures in the wild.Animals and their babies take the stage in this paper-engineered tale that allows young readers to make surprise discoveries. On the first spread, they meet a bat. Lift up the precisely die-cut bat's wing to see "1 baby / Holding on tight as they fly through the night." Page turns are propelled by the query that concludes each and every spread: "Who has more babies than that?" Continuing to count upward, readers meet leopard cubs, owlets, fox kits, leverets, caterpillars, and many more animals. Creatively designed flaps and die cuts, as well as pages with nontraditional trims, invite young hands to lift, peek, and search: Lift leaf-shaped flaps to see "8 baby mice"; peek through tree-trunk–shaped die cuts to see a forest with "15 poults"; and turn pages shaped like verdant hills to see "2 lambs." The rhymes are unfussy, pleasingly rhythmic, and have unfailingly flawless meter ("9 ducklings / Swimming and snacking, / Practicing quacking"). Richly colored illustrations in vivid crimson, sapphire, marble green, and copper hues feature realistic animals in their natural habitats, though most are given sleek, wide, stylized eyes. The final spread throws readers a curveball with "LOTS of spiderlings," depicted as die-cut holes with eight legs each on the previous page-and, it turns out, many of the pages before that.Engaging, rewarding, and utterly delightful. (Picture book/novelty. 3-6)

Readers count from one to 10 and then jump from there to 15, 20, and 25 in this picture book featuring creatures in the wild.Animals and their babies take the stage in this paper-engineered tale that allows young readers to make surprise discoveries. On the first spread, they meet a bat. Lift up the precisely die-cut bat's wing to see "1 baby / Holding on tight as they fly through the night." Page turns are propelled by the query that concludes each and every spread: "Who has more babies than that?" Continuing to count upward, readers meet leopard cubs, owlets, fox kits, leverets, caterpillars, and many more animals. Creatively designed flaps and die cuts, as well as pages with nontraditional trims, invite young hands to lift, peek, and search: Lift leaf-shaped flaps to see "8 baby mice"; peek through tree-trunk–shaped die cuts to see a forest with "15 poults"; and turn pages shaped like verdant hills to see "2 lambs." The rhymes are unfussy, pleasingly rhythmic, and have unfailingly flawless meter ("9 ducklings / Swimming and snacking, / Practicing quacking"). Richly colored illustrations in vivid crimson, sapphire, marble green, and copper hues feature realistic animals in their natural habitats, though most are given sleek, wide, stylized eyes. The final spread throws readers a curveball with "LOTS of spiderlings," depicted as die-cut holes with eight legs each on the previous page-and, it turns out, many of the pages before that.Engaging, rewarding, and utterly delightful. (Picture book/novelty. 3-6)

Donaldson and King-Chai-s animal-themed counting book marches readers through a menagerie of families, including bats, leopards, and potbelly pigs. Featuring flaps for lifting, spreads present animals with their countable young, described in rhythmic language (-This arctic hare has.../ 7 leverets./ Running and jumping./ Little legs thumping-) and ending with the repeated refrain, -Who has more babies than that?- The groups represent numbers one to 10, then jump up by fives all the way to 30, where the final spread invites readers to count a spider parent-s spiderlings, which are scattered throughout the book. King-Chai-s energetic illustrations, shot through with acid yellow, electric blue, and shocking pink, layer textures to depict brush-stroked owl wings, splotchy tadpoles, ink-spot flowers, and spattered horizon lines. Ages 3-5. (Nov.)