The story in three lines. One candle goes on each of Bà Tư's porch steps. Tí counts too fast and touches one step twice. Clutch shows him to touch each step once, Dottie sees three candles at a glance, and Wriggle finds one more, so three and one more make four. Tí puts one candle on each step himself.

The five nights. Read it once and let your child listen. On the second night, pause before the last word of each refrain line. On the third, tap the table on each step. On the fourth, stop before each new friend and ask "who's next?" On the fifth, let them read it to a toy.

One thing to do at the table. Put out four cups and three spoons. Count the cups together, touching each one once. Then ask: is there a spoon for every cup? How many more do we need? Swap jobs so your child sets out the objects and you count, and now and then touch one twice on purpose to see if they catch you.

The grown-up layer. The book carries three early number ideas. Touching each thing once is called one-to-one correspondence. Knowing that the last number you say is the total is called cardinality, and many three-year-olds can recite numbers well before they understand it. Seeing three dots without counting is called subitizing. "One more makes the next number" is the start of adding.