Animated Numbers Book
Created and Illustrated by William Wiesner
Text by Edward Ernest
Garden City Publishing Co, Inc.
Copyright, 1945
By Duenewald Printing Corporation
Lithographed in the United States of America
About the Author
William Wiesner was born on April 28, 1899, in Vienna, Austria. He was a practicing architect and interior designer in Austria before migrating to France and then to the United States in 1941. He worked with his wife in textile design and got commissions for murals and paintings from the Hilton Hotels in various cities.
Mr. Wiesner wrote and illustrated many children's books in the 1960s and 1970s.
A Movable Picture Book
This book makes it easy and fun for any young reader to learn numbers. It illustrates each number with animated objects: such as airplanes coming out of a factory, sheep trotting over a hill and animals hidden in a circus ring.
For each number there is a different game to play, with the fun of counting and identifying objects. The excitement of making the pictures move and the magic of the simple number games will give any young child hours of learning pleasure.
The first page of the book shows a young farmer with a pitch fork in his hand.
He is looking at a pig pen that appears to be empty. You pull a tab on the side of the page, and the pig magically shows up in the pen. This page features the number "0" and "1".
Where is the Pig?The book presents numbers 1 - 10 to the young readers and introduces some simple addition at the end of the book. There are seven pages of movable parts and many pages have hidden pictures that children must look for.
First there is one
And then there is none!
My Thoughts
I love to hunt for vintage children's books at yard sales, flea markets and thrift shops. I found this treasure at the Spring Antique Fair in Warrenton, Texas. My copy is well worn but all the movable pieces are intact and I was thrilled to add it to my collection.
This book is loaded with illustrations that tell the story of our country during the 1940s. There are pictures of farm children, trains, airplanes, a factory, circus performers and an elevator in a department store (the elevator moves up and down when you pull a tab.)
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. This simple picture book is a great example of the value of a picture.
I hate to think of all the vintage children's books that have been destroyed throughout the years. I would like to encourage you to keep your eyes open and be prepared to rescue these treasures when you are lucky enough to find them.
Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.
