What in the World?

Written by Nancy Raines Day · Illustrated by Kurt Cyrus

Explore nature's numbers, from twos to countless stars.

4.0/7 Bookroo expert·3.9/5 Goodreads · 192 ratings

32 pages· ~620L

$17.99Save 7%

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Bookroo's summary

Journey through nature's numerical wonders, from pairs of bird wings to the infinite stars above. This vibrant counting book invites young readers to discover the beauty of numbers in the natural world, with playful rhymes and vivid illustrations. Can you imagine the countless stars in the sky?

From the publisher

Discover nature by the numbers in this gorgeous, innovative counting book.

The natural world is full of sets of numbers: from birds’ wings in twos and clover leaves in threes to deer hooves in fours and octopus arms in eights. This book uses playful rhyming text to explore these numerical sets in vibrant detail, ending with the stars in the sky—a number set too big to count!

At a glance

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 32
Reading age: 4–8
Audience: Picture
Lexile: ~620L

Themes & topics

Books about counting and numbers Books about animals Books about the world Books about math Books about nature

Good to know

Stories behind the story

Were there any pivotal changes that your story/illustrations underwent throughout the writing/editing process?

When I first wrote this, there were nine planets--then they took Pluto away! It took me two more years to find the nine-spined stickleback fish. By Nancy Raines Day (author)

What part of creating What in the World? did you most enjoy?

Seeing what Kurt Cyrus did with my text! The way he brought all these different elements together with a sense of flow and tender beauty blew me away. By Nancy Raines Day (author)

What readers & critics say