This is a counting book … sort of.  It is not actually a picture book of things to be counted, but more a book about trying to count.

Little Zebra tries to count his stripes.  He can’t see all around himself so he asks for help from the other animals.  They give varying answers, usually showing that they can’t count the stripes either.  Hippo counts “One-Two-Three-LOTS!”, Giraffe just says “Plenty”, Lion cub only gets to six because that’s as far as he can count, no-one can give a definite answer.

So, as a counting book Just the Right Stripes actually looks at all the different ways that people express numbers and their counting.  Some are vague, some are uncertain, some are lazy.  None are actually much good to Little Zebra.

Adults may understand terms like “some”, “plenty”, “a few” and “enough” automatically but young minds often want a clear, definite answer.  In the end, Little Zebra settles for “just the right number” from his father.  The number, whatever it is, may not be right for a mongoose or a tiger, but it is right for a zebra.

Just the Right Stripes can be a good discussion starter for young mathematicians learning these relative, indefinite concepts that adults use in their counting.  It might also make adults think about how much a child is understanding of what they say.

Review by David Beagley

© 2002 David Beagley