Alphonse Knows … Zero Is Not Enough

Noreen Mitchell is a librarian with the Toronto Public Library.

These two concept books are as entertaining as they are instructive.
Alphonse Knows . . . Zero Is Not Enough is a counting book that uses a
Hallowe’en theme to explore the meaning of numbers up to 10. Alphonse,
a wacky wise man, decides to count the Hallowe’en candies to find out
if there is enough, but as he counts them he eats them and, of course,
ends up with none. Alphonse’s assistant, a little mouse, has the job
of writing down each number as Alphonse does the counting. Both Alphonse
and the mouse are lively characters whose actions and expressions are
subtle but meaning-laden. Also great fun is the group of
trick-or-treaters who show up at the end after Alphonse has eaten all
the treats. They range from the tooth fairy to King Kong, and their
gradual appearance (each one is revealed in part through Alphonse’s
window) may be a subtlety that is lost on very little children but it is
a witty device to be appreciated by older readers.

In Alphonse Knows . . . Twelve Months Make a Year, it is New Year’s
Eve, and Alphonse passes the time before midnight recounting to his
little mouse friend the events of the previous 12 months. Simple things
that typify each month are remembered in turn: for example, “In
October the leaves changed colours. We carved our pumpkins and got ready
for Hallowe’en. It’s too bad someone ate all the candies before the
first knock at the door.” The relationship of month to seasons is also
indicated. As it was in the counting book, Zimmerman’s joyful sense of
humor is equally evident here. Alphonse must continually urge his tired
little friend, who keeps nodding off, to “stay awake, stay awake”
while he finishes his countdown to the new year.

My four-year-old loved both of these books and found the illustrations
highly amusing—even through numerous re-reads.