Primary-grade math concepts come into play when a club must decide the best way to sell their charity popcorn.
The Community Champions are a varied cast of kids—an unobtrusive mix of genders, races, and one who uses a wheelchair—who do good works around town. Occasionally Driscoll drifts into the too angelic: “The Champs were quiet as they read the messages” of thanks from the previous year’s Thanksgiving project. Other times she speaks what’s better left unsaid: “The more popcorn we sell, the more families we help!” Lizzie burbles. But for the most part, the kids are trying to maximize sales through the deployment of business math—this book is part of the Math Matters series, each of which targets a specific math concept—including distribution and averaging, with terms such as median, mean, value, mode, and range set aside as boxed items for further explanations. The kids even learn how to compete with the grocery store to find the best price margin. In the end, the artwork (mostly depictions of swarms of kids having a good time) and the text feel right: their teacher is proud of their spirit, and the kids get a warm feeling from doing something selfless and meaningful. Three other Math Matters titles publish simultaneously: A Fishy Mystery, by Lisa Harkrader and illustrated by Cary Pillo, introduces Venn diagrams; Let’s Go, Snow!, by Eleanor May and also illustrated by Pillo, looks at temperature measurement; and Otto and the New Girl, by Nan Walker and illustrated by Amy Wummer, explores symmetry.
There’s a misstep or two, but overall this is both an effective celebration of abilities and needs and a concise and accessible use of business math. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-57565-865-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kane Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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From an artist, poet, and Instagram celebrity, a pep talk for all who question where a new road might lead.
Opening by asking readers, “Have you ever wanted to go in a different direction,” the unnamed narrator describes having such a feeling and then witnessing the appearance of a new road “almost as if it were magic.” “Where do you lead?” the narrator asks. The Road’s twice-iterated response—“Be a leader and find out”—bookends a dialogue in which a traveler’s anxieties are answered by platitudes. “What if I fall?” worries the narrator in a stylized, faux hand-lettered type Wade’s Instagram followers will recognize. The Road’s dialogue and the narration are set in a chunky, sans-serif type with no quotation marks, so the one flows into the other confusingly. “Everyone falls at some point, said the Road. / But I will always be there when you land.” Narrator: “What if the world around us is filled with hate?” Road: “Lead it to love.” Narrator: “What if I feel stuck?” Road: “Keep going.” De Moyencourt illustrates this colloquy with luminous scenes of a small, brown-skinned child, face turned away from viewers so all they see is a mop of blond curls. The child steps into an urban mural, walks along a winding country road through broad rural landscapes and scary woods, climbs a rugged metaphorical mountain, then comes to stand at last, Little Prince–like, on a tiny blue and green planet. Wade’s closing claim that her message isn’t meant just for children is likely superfluous…in fact, forget the just.
Inspiration, shrink wrapped. (Picture book. 6-8, adult)Pub Date: March 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-26949-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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