Elegant photography and simple enumeration combine in an exploration of glorious green grocery. A succession of spreads pairs a single piece of produce on one page with a variety of that same produce on the adjacent page, with the number of items on the second page growing by one each time ("1 pea pod, 2 pea pods / 1 cucumber, 3 cucumbers / 1 apple, 4 apples"). The singular variety of the left is a typical exemplar (say, a standard eggplant), while the varieties on the right are more expansive: a Thai yellow egg, a kremit, a nubia, a nipple fruit, and so on. Bass' sharp, brilliant photographs stand out on crisp white backgrounds, with a hint of shadow at the base of each foodstuff adding a sense of depth, while a final spread accounts for the entire basket, 1 through 12, stacked up like bar graphs. Very young children will enjoy counting the bright, bold images, and older kids will take interest in the rich, culinary variety.

PreS-Gr 1 An appetizing array of fruits and vegetables are counted from one to 12, accompanied by gorgeous, full-color photographs. The foods include apples, potatoes, squash, cucumbers, and eggplant, to name just a few. What distinguishes this counting book from others of its kind are the vast subvarieties of produce in each category, in many different colors. Readers may already be familiar with different types of apples, such as golden delicious, granny smith, pink lady, and golden russet, but far fewer will be aware that a pepper can be also be brown or purple (sweet chocolate and islander, respectively). There is a great deal to digest here for young children, especially when the author goes from listing specific types of fruits and veggies to the final category, citrus fruit, a fairly broad group. A well-planned trip to the farmer's market would enhance this lesson. Pair with other books on this succulent topic, including Emily Hruby's Counting in the Garden (Ammo, 2013) and Lois Ehlert's popular Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z (Houghton Mifflin, 1989). VERDICT A charming addition for food-related lesson plans or programming. Etta Anton, Yeshiva of Central Queens, NY