Nuts About Nuts: A Funny Counting Adventure by author/illustrator Bia Melo (Little Snail Goes House Hunting) is a playful, interactive picture book about a cheeky squirrel with a voracious appetite for nuts whose hoarding hijinks go awry.
"ONE happy squirrel" cradles a "beloved" acorn. A hilarious page-turn depicts the "hungry squirrel" with "TWO nuts inside" their puffed cheeks. When Squirrel's collection reaches 10, they ease the burden of carrying their haul by tucking 20 "inside my tummy." With 30 nuts and counting, the squirrel pushes them uphill to a massive stash of 100 nuts hiding behind a gatefold with "Keep Out!" and "Angry Squirrel" signs. Readers open the flaps to find a bird hidden among the acorns. The startled squirrel sends all but three nuts tumbling back down the hill and buries the remaining supply. Squirrel, with "0" nuts left, falls to the ground in dismay. Until, that is, the bird returns with a nut to share: "HALF a nut each and ONE new friend."
Melo's lively prose subverts counting-book conventions by moving beyond simple number sequences to include multiplication, a countdown, and a fraction. She encourages maximum engagement through clever text that breaks the fourth wall ("Did you leave the door open?") and inventive design elements, such as the fold-out scene. Melo's naïve-style illustrations, made with felt-tip pens and colored pencils, nicely capture Squirrel's energetic activities. Nuts About Nuts's rollicking fun will likely capture budding counters faster than a squirrel can hoard a pile of acorns. --Cristina Iannarino, children's book buyer, Books on the Square, Providence, RI.