100 Ways to Celebrate 100 Days by Bruce Goldstone - review

100 things I like about this 100th day book:

Ok not. What, come on, do you really need a hundred? Would you even sit still to read a hundred? Yeah one would think not. One would need to have written a book as appealing and clever and also thoughtful as Bruce Goldstone's new book in order to get a reader to actually sit still to read 100 of virtually anything. Or so one might think...

Ergo. A few things I like about this 100th day book:

• Lots of verbs. "Make 100" suggests making a snake out of 100 beads or a millipede with 100 pipe cleaner legs. "Stretch 100" and "Stomp 100" are just two examples of 100th-day projects that get kids on their feet.

• Sweet rhymes. "Jiggle 100" (make a gelatin mold with 100 things in it), "Nibble 100" (eat a carrot in 100 tiny bites), "Dribble 100" (bounce a ball 100 times).

• Clear colorful photographs. What do 100 raffle tickets look like? 100 beans? 100 birthday candles?

• Excellent exercises. "Count 100" by twos (count the eyes on owls), by fours (count elephant legs), by fives (fingers), and by tens (toes).

• Clean design. White space, typography, and photos of objects work together to create a browsable, flippable, light and jazzy whole.

• Projects range from the ambitious: "Say 'hello' in 100 languages" to the not-so: "Drink a glass of water in exactly 100 sips."

• On top of all the concrete visual representations of 100, there's also a two-page spread with the numbers from one to one hundred written out in English.

• The kids represented are diverse, smiling, and in motion.

• Any kid can find a fun 100th-day project in this book. Of course there are plenty of art and craft projects for arty and crafty kids; but there are also ideas for eco-conscious kids - collect magazines to recycle; kitchen kids can make trail mix out of 100 raisins, peanuts and M&Ms; active kids can stomp 100 times; the writers can write a story with 100 words; the readers can band together and read 100 books; and any kid can borrow a measuring tape or a scale and find out what 100 centimeters looks like or how heavy 100 grams feels.

AND. The stack of 100 books on the "Read 100" page includes some of my all-time favorite picture books: Sit on a Potato Pan, Otis!, A Day with Wilbur Robinson, I, Crocodile, Chowder, and Zoom, as well as number-centric books like Great Estimations, The Hunting of the Snark, 365 Penguins, The Three Golden Keys, and The 13 Clocks. Clever attention to detail charms me to the core.