1, 2, 3 to the Zoo was published by the World Publishing Company in 1968, making it Carle’s first solo picture book (he had illustrated Brown Bear for Bill Martin Jr. the previous year). The book is a counting exercise: a train travels to the zoo, and each car carries a different number of animals — one elephant, two hippos, three giraffes, four lions, five bears, six crocodiles, seven seals, eight monkeys, nine snakes, and ten birds. A small mouse appears on every page, providing a visual thread that ties the sequence together.
The book is wordless — the numbers are the only text — and it teaches counting through visual accumulation. Each page shows the animals in their train car, rendered in Carle’s tissue-paper collage with the bold colors and rough-edged shapes that would become his trademark. The final fold-out page shows all the animals together in the zoo, allowing the child to count them all again in their new setting.
As Carle’s first solo work, 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo is interesting as a demonstration of the technique and sensibility that would make The Very Hungry Caterpillar a classic the following year. The collage style is already fully developed — the animals have the same tactile, handmade quality that characterizes all of Carle’s subsequent work — and the integration of counting into narrative (the train’s journey, the animals’ arrival at the zoo) shows Carle’s instinct for combining education with storytelling.
Collecting 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo
First edition (World Publishing Company, Cleveland/New York, 1968): Pictorial boards.
Market values:
- First edition, fine: $200–$800
- Later editions: $5–$15
Carle’s first solo book, published by the same company that would publish The Very Hungry Caterpillar the next year. First editions are scarce and sought after by Carle collectors.