Mary Clare (who has red hair) is a kind little girl who is the soul of generosity. As a structure for introducing the concept of fractions, she shares various food treats with her friends and family. The simple, rhyming text proceeds in logical numerical progression, from one pear divided into two halves, through a muffin divided into thirds, on up to Mary Clare’s birthday cake divided into ten slices. An additional math concept that is cleverly and clearly conveyed shows that Mary Clare must count herself in the number of slices or pieces needed (for example, five cousins arrive for a visit, so the total is now six children and each will get one-sixth of an orange). What could be a boring and didactic exercise in fractional story problems is instead a witty easy reader, combining breezy rhymes with cheerful illustrations of children of many different ethnicities. (Easy reader. 5-7)
