Books on ordinal numbers (First, Second, Third, etc.) are hard to find for Pre-K to Grade 2 kids and are in demand by teachers and librarians. There are plenty of counting books (cardinal numbers), but those that focus on position or order in relationship to a group (ordinal numbers) are few and far between. Preschoolers and kindergarten students especially have difficulty with this concept. The story also supports character education units on independent thinking, acceptance of differences, and the value of a team effort. For children in Grades 1-2, it reinforces placement in a group, sequencing, and the ordering of objects in a collection. Also, for Grades 1-2, in terms of language arts, teachers can use the book to talk about rhyme, meter, and stanzas. Discussions on writing about universal characters, a simple plot, and how setting influences a story can be added.

Because the reading level of the text is approximately 1st or 2nd grade, it can be read independently by 2nd grade. Savvy 3rd Grade and UP teachers can use the text as a basis for lessons about writing and spelling higher ordinal numbers (the book only goes up to ten), along with how understanding ordinal numbers contributes to simple algebraic equations. (Example: x Ocean animals make early math lesson fun and entertaining. Illustrator Michelle Hazelwood Hyde's Y Is for Y'all has been a children's bestseller for months at Barnes & Noble; over 1,000 Amazon ratings with a 4.9 average.