Ten Puppies
In a book that celebrates uniqueness, Mother Dog has ten puppies that are all different from one another. The simple watercolor pictures show that some of the puppies have pointed noses, others have flat ones, some of them have blue eyes, and others have brown ones. With the lively exuberance of a basketful of puppies, this book introduces the concepts of shapes and colors, as well as the different number combinations that make ten.
Pennsylvania Center for the Book Awards
Book Activities & Discussion Ideas
After reading this book, follow up with a nonfiction book about dogs, such as Dog by Matthew VanFleet (2008 Baker’s Dozen). Use the photographs to help children identify characteristics of dogs (e.g., plain, spotted, pointy nose, flat nose, curly hair, straight hair). This will help extend the characteristics of dogs discussed in Ten Puppies.
Explain to families how to use this book as a learning tool for shapes, colors, and combinations of ten. Reinforce colors by having children identify colors on each page. Help children understand combinations of ten by having them count objects on the page and add the numbers together. For example: “Six plain dogs + four spotted dogs = 10 dogs.” Use the final page of the book to create number sentence flash cards. Suggest that families match the number sentence flash cards with the pictures in the book that depict the number sentence displayed. (e.g., Nine pink tongues + one blue tongue = 10 or 9+1=10).