Greg Tang

Clear and simple riddles force you to reconsider how you approach a visual counting conundrum. Everything is already arranged into precise columns during math drills in public schools, but this book will show you, groups of objects, in a more haphazard arrangement, just like in real life. Even though I excelled in math, I always had trouble, and the book's lesson or teaching component is its last set of answers. I picked up some pretty useful math application tactics, but more significantly, show more I discovered that there are other perspectives and methods for solving issues that we "don't have time" to learn in school. show less

This book provides many scenarios of different topics and includes math problems with each scenario. I rate this book 4 stars because it is very unique. The author incorporates rhymes and math problems on each page which makes the book interactive and fun to read. I like how each problem is solved differently because that teaches kids that there is more than one way to get to an answer. I would definitely use this book in a fifth-grade classroom. Not only are they reading poetry, but they show more are solving math problems as well. show less

This book contains pictures of grouped objects on each page and instructs the reader to find a number of different ways to combine the groups in order to reach a specified number. I like that the book engages the child in problem-solving tasks, but I think that children may find it difficult to remember which group combinations they already used, possibly resulting in unnecessary confusion. I also like that the book contains famous works of art and includes the artists name and the year in show more which the piece was created. show less

In my opinion, this is a neat take on a counting book, and I enjoyed reading it. This is an interactive, informational counting book. For example, the author writes, “It’s a picnic!” the ants all scream. How many ants are in the scene? Try to count them, one by one.” The text and the illustrations invite the readers (or listeners) to actively participate in the story, which makes it exceptionally engaging. The language in the book is very simple and the use of rhyming words makes it show more fun. “Come on, lucky, shiny dice, roll a pair and count it twice. Boxcars, snake eyes, double threes, can you add up all of these? Before you start, please look around, adding’s fast when tens are found.” This quote also demonstrates the quality of the information introduced in this book, as it describes how the author introduces readers to the “making ten” addition strategy. The illustrations in the book are digital, and in my opinion, they are very flat. However, there are a lot of bright, primary colors used which is typically attractive to young readers. The big idea of this story is threefold: (1) to introduce readers to early math concepts, (2) to introduce poetry and rhyme, and (3) to offer an interactive perspective of informational math text. show less