The Baseball Counting Book [Paperback]

Step up to the plate with this counting book about America's favorite pastime. THE BASEBALL COUNTING BOOK is spring training for little sluggers. The count is zero to zero when the ump calls, Play ball! Nine innings later we've counted balls, strikes, players, fans, and more, all the way to twenty. No one strikes out with these fun rhymes. Little leaguers will find themselves counting their way through practice and pointing out all the new things they've learned about this great game when they watch the pro's on TV or at the parks. Early readers will hit a home run with this charming counting book.An agreeable rhyming counting book with a baseball theme. The story opens on a little league field where the Blue Sox and the Stars face off. Come play baseball/ You could be a hero./ The game's starting score/ is zero to zero. The teams of boys and girls run up the numbers to 20, and baseball rules and lore are imparted painlessly. When there's a full count, we say, 'Three and two.'/ Five fingers up!/ His turn's almost through. A grand slam ends the game, with 19 ice cream cones and 20 baseball cards that give a clear and accurate summary of the main rules of the game. Shaw's stocky acrylic-on-board figures have less zest than his beautifully rendered bats and balls, lush green field and blue sky, and a friendly, ice-cream-loving dog. Younger children whose radar may have picked up McGwire and Sosa, Piazza and Brosius will be ready for spring training after this one.
—Kirkus Reviews

This picture book uses baseball to count from 0 to 20 in rhyming verse. The rules and culture of the game are introduced as two Little League teams compete. The Blue Sox versus the Stars--who will win? Included in the text are the obvious choices of one ball, two teams, three strikes and less obvious choices such as seventeen pairs of eyes watch the boy at home plate. However, at certain points this pattern strains: Thirteen lSk