Twenty Is Too Many

This book is the best I've found for introducing your child to subtraction without letting him know you're teaching him something. (If you have a child who thinks he knows it all or thinks school is where you learn and home is where you play, this is very important.) The book is especially good for helping a child see that you can subtract by counting back, not just by taking some away and then counting to see how many are left, which takes longer. And besides that, the illustrations are whimsical and colorful. My daughters find the pictures very endearing and like the guinea pigs' names. Having already read "One Guinea Pig Is Not Enough," they enjoyed seeing further adventures of the mischievous guinea pigs in this book.

My 3 year old son loves books, and this one is a favorite. He loves the names of all the characters, and enjoys talking about their antics as they leave the scene one by one. This is a book that has a lot of activity, and it presents a pretty easily grasped concept of subtraction. My son isn't quite ready for math yet, but the exposure is great. I can't imagine why a child wouldn't have fun with this one.