A creative approach + math and science + a map = a book that both entertains and teaches.
A little girl and her dog play outdoors in a story that utilizes math and science concepts.
The unnamed, light-skinned, tutu-clad girl who narrates the story has a big imagination suited to creative play. She imagines herself as a queen, a pilot, and a pirate captain, with the dog assigned secondary roles in her imagined play settings. The dog speaks in its own canine language, with English translations provided. The brief text is primarily the girl’s commentary on their activities, integrated with a series of addition equations following the pattern set by the title. Each equation relates to a different experience of pretend play, building to more complicated structures by the end. Bold, computer-generated illustrations capture the girl’s spunky personality and the dog’s faithful, sometimes-feisty reactions, with lots of dialogue lines integrated into the art. The math equations are set in all capital letters, sometimes stretching over several pages to accommodate the plot. This two-tiered approach (story plus math equations to describe the plot) is a bit tricky to negotiate on first reading, but the structure is ultimately successful if readers are willing to look at things a little differently. An additional layer of meaning is provided by a map on the end pages illustrating the girl’s home base, with a key to the common objects transformed into play props.
A creative approach + math and science + a map = a book that both entertains and teaches. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234517-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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
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A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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