This extraordinary counting book has both great kid appeal and a sound educational basis. Anno's systematic increase of objects in the illustrations naturally leads young children to count. His illustrations invite extended examination and are the source of the book's success.

The pictures' myriad details are real kid pleasers, as careful observers can seek out subtle hints indicating what will develop next in the town, discover what the woman is hanging on her laundry line, notice what the children are playing with now, etc. Humorous tableaux are scattered throughout the illustrations as well. All the while, the reader is absorbing the fundamental ideas and basic building blocks of mathematical understanding.

Very young children can benefit too, with the assistance of an adult. One three-year-old reader, already familiar with numbers, took the book away after a second look-through to read on her own and began counting the various livestock pictured.