Among the Odds & Evens: A Tale of Adventure

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374303436 ISBN 13: 9780374303433

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 1999

When X and Y, two Adventurers from the Land of Letters, crash-land in the Kingdom of Wontoo, they quickly learn that it is populated by two sorts of Number: the Odds, an eccentric bunch, and the Evens, orderly and predictable. A pun-filled text and high-energy pictures are bound to produce a number of chuckles.

About the Author:

Priscilla Turner lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, and her brother, Whitney Turner, lives in Riverdale, New York. Together they created the picture book The War Between the Vowels and the Consonants, which was an American Bookseller Pick of the Lists.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 2-Turner's attempt to create a story around a math concept doesn't quite add up. The personified letters X and Y set off from the Land of Letters and crash-land their Aerocycle in Wontoo, a country full of Numbers, where they are warmly welcomed as guests. After observing Wontoo society, they note differences between Odd and Even Numbers, and how each set acts (Odds dress wildly and dance in nightclubs, while Evens are described as predictable and "even-tempered"). X and Y come to the realization that two Odd Numbers always produce Even children; they find this fact disturbing and try to convince the Wontoois to change their ways. The polite Numbers wait patiently for the rude Letters to leave. Suddenly (and surprisingly), the Adventurers admit that they want to stay in Wontoo, eventually marrying and having children of their own. The language in this picture book is quite complex, containing words such as "retorted," "confession," "gone native" and "rejoined"; and the dialogue is occasionally stilted. While there are clever details in the illustrations, such as the letters' membership in the Royal Letters Society, or the depiction of X's lecture on "The Odd Issue," the book has a very limited audience. While not necessarily dealing with the concept of odd and even, Jon Scieszka's Math Curse (Viking, 1995) and Stuart Murphy's "MathStart" series (HarperCollins) do a much better job of creating stories around mathematical ideas.
Susan Marie Pitard, Weezie Library for Children, Nantucket Atheneum, MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.