Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream (Marilyn Burns Brainy Day Books) - Hardcover

Woodruff, Liza

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0590300121 ISBN 13: 9780590300124

Publisher: Scholastic Press, 1998

Synopsis

In the fifth book in the series, complemented by humorous illustrations and including a section of educational suggestions for parents and teachers, Amanda Bean resists her teacher's efforts to teach her multiplication until she has an amazing dream.

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Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 3-The advantages of multiplication are introduced in a simple story about an African-American girl who loves to count things, both in and out of school, but is unsure how multiplication will speed up the process. After counting the tiles on the kitchen counter and the books on the library shelves, she falls asleep and begins to dream of a calm bike ride in the country. Then, eight sheep on bicycles come zooming by and stop at a barn to get five yarn balls apiece to give to seven grandmothers knitting sweaters. Amanda is overwhelmed by trying to tot up bicycle wheels, sheep legs, knitting needles, and sweater arms-until the sheep and the grandmothers begin shouting, "Multiply!" She awakes, convinced that she wants to learn how. Large, lively, ink-and-watercolor cartoons in cheerful colors are filled with objects to count, from lollipops to windowpanes. A comprehenive guide for adults on the usage of the principles and pictures in the book is included.
Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The protagonist in this story has a sort of low-grade obsessive/compulsive disorder: ``I count anything and everything,'' chirps Amanda. The problem is that Amanda's class is moving on to multiplication and she just doesn't get it. So she keeps counting things one by one until a dream of too many sheep, too many knitting needles, and too many sweaters pushes her over the edge. Amanda's story is the forgettable vehicle for what is really at stake here: to disclose the mysteries of multiplication. While the illustrations make the concept graphically obvious, the text can be confusing: ``I know about the multiplication sign, X. It means that things can come in groups, or rows, or columns,'' but ``What I do not know are the multiplication facts.'' The term multiplication table is avoided, to no positive effect. At the end of the book, Marilyn Burns (The Greedy Triangle, 1995, etc.) does a credible, if prim, job of explaining the broad contexts of multiplication to adults working with children. (Picture book. 6-10) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 6^-8. Known to her friends as Bean Counter, young Amanda Bean happily counts "anything and everything" by ones, twos, fives, and tens. Although her teacher tells her that learning multiplication is important, Amanda remains unconvinced until a strange dream presents her with arithmetic challenges that overwhelm her counting skills. She awakens (in both senses) and learns to multiply "anything and everything." The purpose of the tale could have sunk this picture book with its pedagogical weight, but the light tone of the first-person text and the deft drawing, bright hues, and buoyant good humor of Woodruff's ink-and-watercolor illustrations keep it afloat. The book ends with suggestions for using the book to teach multiplication. Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0590300121
• ISBN 13: 9780590300124
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40