How Many Donkeys?: An Arabic Counting Tale

by Margaret Read MacDonald, Nadia Jameel Taibah, Carol Liddiment (Illustrator)

Overview

2010 Best English Language Children's Book, Sharjah International Book Fair

Jouha gets confused counting his donkeys while leading them to market.

Jouha is loading his donkeys with dates to sell at the market. How many donkeys are there? His son helps him count ten, but once the journey starts, things change. First there are ten donkeys, then there are nine! When Jouha stops to count again, the lost donkey is back. What's going on? Silly Jouha doesn't get it, but by the end of the story, wise readers will be counting correctly−and in Arabic!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807534250
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	03/01/2012
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	AD230L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Margaret Read MacDonald is a children's librarian turned storyteller who travels the world sharing tales. Her many picture book retellings include The Boy from the Dragon Palace, Little Rooster’s Diamond Button, and Mabela the Clever. When not traveling, she lives near Seattle, Washington.

Nadia Jameel Taibah grew up hearing Saudi folktales told by her mother, a talented storyteller. She works at King Abdul-Aziz University, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, helping special education teachers. Nadia lives in Jeddah with her husband and son.

Carol Liddiment lives in England, in the Suffolk countryside with her two sons. As a child she spent much of her time riding horses and adopting wild animals! Now she spends her time illustrating books for children.

Editorial Reviews

2010 Best English Language Children's Book, Sharjah International Book Fair

"Bright, painterly illustrations depict the sunny desert setting; jewel-toned robes, turbans, and blankets enliven the sandy palette…A winning, witty, and surprisingly effective combination."—Booklist

"Young readers will giggle along as they familiarize themselves with cardinal numbers in both languages and spot Jouha's grievous but comic errors…Engaging and filled with gentle humor-a solid choice for home or school use."—Kirkus Reviews

"Margaret Read McDonald is not only the world's expert on folklore for children, she is also a fine storyteller, as this counting book shows."—Children's Literature

"Full-color paintings expand the repetitive text, tracing the journey of ten distinctly different donkeys across the desert landscape and indicating the passage of time with the position of the sun, the color of the sky, and the size of the shadows underneath the donkeys."—School Library Journal

"This book teaches Arabic numbers through repetition while poking fun at the silliness of Jouha, making it a good choice."—Library Media Connection

From the Publisher

In this retelling of a traditional Middle Eastern folktale, silly Jouha can not understand why every time he sits on his donkey and counts the donkeys behind that are carting his figs to market, he loses one, making him a most unlucky man! But no worries-each time he is instructed to dismount, he is able to count all of the donkeys he sees, and all ten are there, making him quite a lucky fellow. Liddiment's warm, sunlit illustrations show the lovable fool making his way through the desert landscape and finding help from passersby, all the while accompanied by the numbers one to ten in Arabic and English transliteration, which periodically appear at the bottom of the pages. Young readers will giggle along as they familiarize themselves with cardinal numbers in both languages and spot Jouha's grievous but comic errors. An initial note explains that, as in Arabic, the numbers appear from right to left, and provides source notes and pronunciations. Engaging and filled with gentle humor-a solid choice for home or school use. (Picture book/folktale. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews