Wow, what a wonderful surprise! Count on Me is a book about a little girl who has a more unusual passion, math. The beginning of the book talks about how all her family members have their own passions and that she has tried out many of them herself but they just haven't been the right fit.

 She realizes that having a passion, even if it is unlike a lot of other peoples, is a very wonderful thing. She then shares about how she sees and interacts with math in the world around here. This was a very sweet book with a powerful message. I loved the illustrations so much and especially enjoyed how inclusive it was, with both the text and the book's artwork. Bravo!

You guys, <i>Count on Me </i>by Miguel Tanco was <i>so</i> damn cute. I don't even know where to begin with how much I adored this book, but ultimately it comes down to two things. The first is how it portrays the main character's love of math, a slightly unconventional passion for most children. The second is the inclusion of diversity. I always love seeing characters who offer those who have rarely seen themselves in media the opportunity to do so. And honestly, I cannot wait for <i>Count on Me </i>to find its way to a great many shelves for all the girls who love math and for all the girls who will be able to see themselves in this character. Something else that I really appreciated about this book is the fact that the family is interracial, portrayed with a white father and a POC mother. Though the roles are switched as far as matching goes, one of the things I was really excited about was the fact that this character would be perfect for my other niece, whose mother is my sister.

<i>Count on Me</i> follows our main character as she goes about the world trying to find her passion. Her father is an artist, her brother a musician, and her mom a scientist. Though she tries out these passions, and others, the young girl in this story turns to math above all else. I was thrilled to see all the ways in which math was integrated into the story, especially as the main character introduces readers to them. A part of me does wish that the author had included more information as to how math can relate to the other passions that the young girl tries--I know for a fact that there's a <i>lot</i> of math in science--as it really would have added to the story.

The artwork was absolutely gorgeous, which I think you can tell just by looking at the cover there. You can really feel a strong connection to the characters and one of the best pieces was the illustrated notebook explaining all of the math pieces that the author touches on in the book. It's presented as the young girl's notebook and does an amazing job illustrating how the math works. While I don't picture children being exceedingly interested in this portion of the book, I do think it's a wonderful inclusion and the kids who are interested in math will definitely find it exciting.

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This is a story about a little girl whose passion is math. She's tried all sorts of other things--from cooking to music--but nothing excites her the way math does. She sees it in everything around her. The main message is that everybody sees the world in a different way, and being passionate about math is a good thing.

I do kind of wish the main narrative had emphasized more the relationship between math and all of the girl's experimental activities (dance, cooking, sports, music, etc.), rather than just having her dismiss them as not for her. In the back of the book, we see the girl's notebook in which she talks about things like fractals and trajectories. So while the reader can clearly see that math factors into all of those activities that she dismissed before, the girl herself doesn't always seem to acknowledge the links in the main narrative.

That bit with the notebook at the back is probably my favourite part of the book. It sort of turns this into a fiction/non-fiction hybrid. There's no real "story" otherwise, just a child talking about her unique worldview.

I would recommend this one, especially to kids who are passionate about math. I like the way it shows that math is something that's part of everything we do, and isn't really that strange of a passion to have.