10 Noisy Rickshaws

Numbers one through ten get a tour of everyday Indian life in this board book, starting from a single peacock and building to ten samosas, with scooters and elephants along the way, told through simple text and bright, distinct illustrations on every page. At just 10 pages, Reena Puri and Mital Telhan's board book is aimed at ages 0 to 3, and it's earned a 4.8 average across more than 4,300 Amazon reviews since it came out in 2017.

The trick worth noting is that it teaches vocabulary most counting books never touch alongside the numbers themselves, so pointing and naming turns into a small window into another culture's everyday objects and food, not just a math drill. Nothing here requires a child to already know what a rickshaw or a samosa is, the pictures do that work themselves, which is what makes it useful for building new vocabulary rather than only reinforcing numbers a toddler already half-knows. A good next pick once the counting books already on your shelf have gone stale.