I Love You, One to Ten

“How do I love you, little one?/ Let me count the ways,” begins Adderson (Eat, Leo, Eat!) as a mother lists off the things she loves about her redheaded, diaper-wearing toddler. Initially, the reasons correspond to body parts (“One is your face,/ so round and glad./ Two, your eyes,/ googly, bright”), though things get more esoteric as the poem progresses: “Your toes, too!/ Two toes on each foot!/ Your fingers and toes are Six.” Leist (On My Walk) gamely tries to help some of these references make more sense—a sock-clad foot wedged into a sandal gives the sense of two “toes,” and a scarf tucked into the child’s pants stands in for the tail the mother gushes over—but literal-minded readers may still puzzle over some of the language, adoring though it may be. Ages 2–5. (Sept.)