CHARLIE PIECHART AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING PIZZA SLICE

Name: CHARLIE PIECHART AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING PIZZA SLICE
Author: Eric Comstock
ISBN: 978-0-06-237054-9

From the Charlie Piechart series

by Eric Comstock & Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Eric Comstock ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2015

Kids will have fun following Charlie as he solves the mystery and reinforce their fraction skills along the way

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Pizza night brings a mystery, and plenty of math, to the Piechart household.

Charlie’s family of five is joined by his friend Lewis, which means that if they order a large pizza, each of them will get two slices. But can they agree on toppings? Four-sixths want nothing to do with veggies, and no one wants anchovies. Pepperoni it is. But between the pizza’s arrival and its serving, one piece has gone missing. Charlie goes into full detective mode (his dog is even named Watson!) and hunts for clues, then turns to his five suspects…though maybe he should include one more. Comstock and Sadler give readers plenty of exposure to fractions in both written and pie-chart form: fittingly, Charlie’s body is a round pie chart that changes to reflect the math around him. The authors find sneaky ways to seamlessly add more and more fractions to the tale while at the same time upping the humor: Charlie has his sisters do the burp test to see if they are guilty. Debut illustrator Comstock’s digital artwork is a retro-modern throwback, from the red, white, mustard, and turquoise palette to the asterisk designs on the plates and the furniture shapes.

Kids will have fun following Charlie as he solves the mystery and reinforce their fraction skills along the way . (Math picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-06-237054-9

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S MYSTERY & THRILLER

- BOOK REVIEW
TANGLED
by Anne Miranda ; illustrated by Eric Comstock

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THE GREAT DICTIONARY CAPER
by Judy Sierra ; illustrated by Eric Comstock

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THE CRAYONS GO BACK TO SCHOOL

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2023

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.

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The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.

Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: May 16, 2023

ISBN: 9780593621110

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CRAYONS' BOOK OF MANNERS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

- BOOK REVIEW
FORTY THE FORTUNE TELLER
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Kevin Cornell

- BOOK REVIEW
BATH TIME FOR THE CRAYONS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

- SEEN & HEARD
Daywalt, Jeffers Collaborate on New ‘Crayons’ Book

- SEEN & HEARD
Daywalt, Jeffers Collaborate on New ‘Crayons’ Book

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)