Counting

Counting is a fundamental concept in childhood which supports early literacy skills. Building strong early literacy skills helps your child when it comes time for them to learn how to read. Check out the titles below one by one to learn about counting. And remember, you can ask your local librarian for personalized suggestions anytime.

This booklist was created in support of BUZZWORD PGH to encourage imagination, investigation, creation, and reflection. Available to families throughout Allegheny County, BUZZWORD PGH engages young children and their families as they discover the words that are all around them.


You can sign up for a free library card here.   

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If you’re looking for more book suggestions, we’re happy to recommend them to you! Use this Book Recommendation form to send us some information about what you like to read and we’ll curate a list just for you.     

If you have any additional questions, you can contact a librarian through Facebook or Instagram. You can also call us at 412-622-3114 or email us at info@carnegielibrary.org

10 Cats

Follow the lives of ten kittens as they playfully pounce, bat, and swat while their mother sleeps. Buckets of paint quickly turn the kittens–and their sleeping mother–into brilliant works of art.


10 Little Construction Trucks

This sturdy board book will keep babies and toddlers busy as they learn to count down from ten to one while spending the day on a construction site, where they’ll meet such machines as bulldozers, rollers, forklifts and concrete mixers.


Animal Numbers

“Animal Numbers” mashes up animals and numbers to create unique and funny made-up creatures with silly attributes! Dinosaurs with four heads, a two-can with two beaks, kids will delight as they learn both animals and numbers at the same time.



Counting Ovejas

“Counting Ovejas” is a bilingual tribute to the power of sheep in putting one very unsleepy boy to sleep.



Gato Guapo

Nine kittens follow Gato Guapo around, but when it’s time to count them, one by one, they go missing, along with a piece of Gato Guapo’s clothes.



The Numbers Store

When Mom realizes there are zero eggs in the house, the entire family heads to the store to pick up more. Readers can join the counting fun as the family shops and adds more items to their basket–from three bananas to five plums–amid the backdrop of a bustling market. “The Numbers Store” studies numbers through the experience of an intergenerational Black family’s trip to the local grocery store. 


Zero Zebras: A Counting Book About What's Not There

Bruce Goldstone takes us on a wild animal safari counting one wallaby, two tuna, three thrushes, four frogs–but absolutely zero zebras. Readers will realize the infinite possibilities of counting what is and isn’t on the page.