1,2,3 The Castles I See was awarded the Wishing Shelf Book Bronze Award for 2023 in the Preschool Picture book category. It is a perfect day to make sandcastles at the beach. All it takes is a shovel, a pail of water, and a little imagination. One castle can have colorful seaweed. Another can have sticks. A third can have shells or pretty stones. There are so many choices. Count them and see how many different ones there are. Author-illustrator Sarah Downie collaborated with Deborah Motycka Downie to create this beach-themed counting book. Written in simple rhyme, the beautifully illustrated story describes ten different sandcastles made by ten friends. As children count from one to ten, they will recognize numbers, groupings, and patterns. By the end of the book, they will realize that everyone has their own creativity and individualism. Each one is different, and so are we.