Chimp Math: Learning about Time from a Baby Chimpanzee - Hardcover

Nagda, Ann Whitehead; Bickel, Cindy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805066748 ISBN 13: 9780805066746

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2002

Synopsis

Learn about different ways to measure time by following the growth of a baby chimp

Late one night, a tiny chimpanzee is born at a zoo in Kansas. He seems very weak, and the staff is worried. Will he survive? When the mother shows no interest in her baby, a pediatrician comes in to care for the little chimp. The baby grows strong and healthy, and soon he is big enough to be moved to the Denver Zoo. He is named Jiggs after the doctor who saved him.

Jiggs is a lot like human babies. He wears diapers. He plays with his toys. He loves his pets. And he learns all kinds of new skills as he gets older.

Follow Jiggs as he grows from a wobbly infant to a wild and wonderful toddler. Along the way you can learn about clocks, calendars, time lines, and other ways of keeping time records.

About this title

About the Author

Ann Whitehead Nagda is the author of Tiger Math: Learning to Graph from a Baby Tiger, as well as several other books about wildlife. Ms. Nadga lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband and her cat.

Cindy Bickel has worked at the Denver Zoo for more than thirty years. Ms. Bickel helped write Tiger Math: Learning to Graph from a Baby Tiger and Klondike and Snow: The Denver Zoo's Remarkable Story of Raising Two Polar Bear Cubs.

Reviews

Grade 1-5-Frail and ignored by his mother, baby Jiggs is kept in an incubator at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, KS, and then moved to the Denver Zoo, where he is raised by veterinary assistant and coauthor Bickel. The details of the chimp's young life will fascinate readers. His funny and touching relationships with Bickel's dog, his ability to communicate, and his playful nature are well documented via clear, full-color photos. The book is set up so that one can read the text on the right-hand pages and simply learn Jiggs's story. The left-hand pages offer explanations of the time lines, charts, clocks, and calendars that were used to measure and record the animal's growth and development, and teachers will be able to use them to enhance math units. The time lines, in particular, illuminate the narrative and can lead to classroom projects. Youngsters will smile all the way through this engaging story that has many practical applications as well.
Ellen Heath, Orchard School, Ridgewood, NJ
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 2-5. Born in the Wichita zoo and then abandoned by his mother, chimp Jiggs was raised by humans. This engaging account follows him from infant to toddler, using specifics of his growth and development to introduce time measurement devices such as clocks, calendars, time lines, and charts. The right-hand pages relate Jiggs' experiences and escapades in descriptive, lively prose accompanied by heartwarming, often humorous color photos; the left-hand pages introduce different timekeeping methods, charting information about Jiggs' daily activities or skills as compared with those of wild chimps. Most of the concepts are effectively conveyed, though one or two, such as the age/weight graph, may confuse, as the visual doesn't clearly reflect the explanation. The cute photos and Jiggs' story will win an audience, though, and children will still come away with some sense of how timekeeping can be of use and some of the ways it's done. Shelle Rosenfeld
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805066748
• ISBN 13: 9780805066746
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 28