A useful presentation of an important mathematical idea.
An elderly carpenter makes birdhouses that attract the songsters he loves and offer a lesson in the concept of multiplication.
This Korean import nicely demonstrates the fact that multiplication is actually the repetition of sums. From two birds in each of two birdhouses (2x2=4; 2+2=4) to a condominium complex of bird pairs in each of the holes in four duplexes (2x8=16; 2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2=16), readers and listeners are gently led through repeated iterations. A note on the verso reminds adults that it is not “ecologically possible” for so many bird species to live together, and the illustrator's colorful, scratchy paintings show realistic but indeterminate birds. But the point here is not the birds, it’s the old carpenter’s love for them, his careful craftsmanship, and the math concept they reveal. Two species of birds each lay three eggs; three species each lay four eggs. The wonder continues. No translator is identified for the simple text of this narrative, and the translation is sometimes awkward. The birds “often stayed put for a long while. Other times, they flew south for the winter but returned to the woods in the spring.” But Kim’s illustrations are beautifully expressive, with close-ups of the birds and the carpenter and wide-angle scenes at different seasons and times of day.
A useful presentation of an important mathematical idea. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-939248-05-3
Page Count: 38
Publisher: TanTan
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
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)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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