In this counting book, Curious George embarks on a mission to count 100 items during the day of his town's centennial. Preschool-age children will love watching the beloved monkey begin by counting his bed at home, travel through town, visit the school, celebrate at the town party and finish with 100 steps to "the person he counts on most," the Man with the Yellow Hat. The illustrations are plentiful and feature the classic Curious George, who wouldn't be complete without a bit of mischief, such as when George drew toothpaste pictures for the Man with the Yellow Hat on the bathtub and tile.

While it's obvious that counting is the main activity of this story, there are numerous ways to practice. Children can either count the individual objects, such as 26 pancakes or can follow along the story and add the next sequential number, such as 43 beads, 44 jars of paint, 45 crayons. A cute little bluebird offers other mini-exercises throughout the book, such as finding animal shapes in George's 27 clouds and the 55 paper airplanes page includes instructions on how to make your very own paper airplane! An extra page directed to parents at the end of the book has other suggestions for getting your child prepared for learning his or her numbers.

As a nanny for a little girl, we regularly incorporate counting into our daily routine, such as counting the number of grapes on her lunch plate. Emily, who is a huge Curious George fan, also enjoyed the counting games and other activities in this book. She loved being able to make a paper airplane and lemonade, from following a recipe in the book, just like George!

--Abby