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ROMAN NUMERALS I TO MM

Name: ROMAN NUMERALS I TO MM
Author: Arthur Geisert
ISBN: 0-395-74519-5

by Arthur Geisert & illustrated by Arthur Geisert ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1996

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Geisert (Haystack, 1995, etc.) draws upon legions of diminutive pigs to demonstrate the meanings and construction of roman numerals; tubby porculi trot and tussle—in swarms for the larger numbers—about farmyards, a playground, parkland, and a rather scanty junkyard. His distinctive color etchings have a muted cast, but every figure is sharply defined; readers can count the hundreds of piggies on the D and M spreads—plus other objects elsewhere, from water tanks to birds—for themselves. Each scene is captioned with either a numeral, an explanation, or a list. Boggling even the most careful eye (resulting in a typo in the case of ``XXII Big balloons,'' when no more than XII are shown), this curiosity may bemuse more than it educates, but it does give graphic expression to some huge numbers, and so may find a use beyond the alphanumeric byway it explores. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: April 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-395-74519-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1996

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW THE BIG BAD WOLF GOT HIS COMMEUPPANCE
by Lisa Wilke Pope ; illustrated by Arthur Geisert

- BOOK REVIEW
PUMPKIN ISLAND
by Arthur Geisert ; illustrated by Arthur Geisert

- BOOK REVIEW
THUNDERSTORM
by Arthur Geisert ; illustrated by Arthur Geisert

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!

John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 21, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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MATH CURSE

by Jon Scieszka & illustrated by Lane Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1995

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An unsuspecting student falls victim to the Math Curse when her teacher notes that ``You can think of almost everything as a math problem.'' Suddenly, everything is: ``I wake up at 7:15. It takes me 10 minutes to get dressed, 15 minutes to eat my breakfast, and 1 minute to brush my teeth . . . if my bus leaves at 8:00, will I make it on time?'' If it's not a time problem, it's equivalents (``How many inches in a foot?''), multiplication, nondecimal numbers, money combinations, and more. What's the cure? It comes to her in a dream: A problem with an answer is no problem at all. Smith's big paintings-cum-collage are, as usual, way strange, perfectly complementing the wild, postmodern page design with concatenations of small objects, fragments, and geometric shapes and figures, all placed on dark, grainy backgrounds. Another calculated triumph from the fevered brows that brought forth The Stinky Cheese Man (1992) and other instant classics, this one with a bit of brainwork deftly woven in. Readers can check their answers on the back cover. (Picture book. 7-9)