Fair is Fair! (Math Matters) - Softcover

Jennifer Arena

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1575651319 ISBN 13: 9781575651316

Publisher: Astra Publishing House, 2003

Synopsis

Discover Math Matters! With over 15 million books sold worldwide, this award-winning series of easy-to-read books will help young readers ages 5–8 approach math with enthusiasm. Great for fans of MathStart or Step into Reading Math.

All the kids get bigger allowances than Marco. And they do fewer chores! It's just not fair! How can Marco convince his Dad to give him the raise he knows he deserves?

With engaging stories that connect math to kids’ everyday lives, each book in the Teachers’ Choice Award–winning Math Matters series focuses on a single concept and reinforces math vocabulary and skills. Bonus activities in the back of each book feature math and reading comprehension questions, and even more free activities online add to the fun! (Math topic: Bar Graphs)

About this title

About the Author

Jennifer Dussling has written many children's books, including Dino Eggs, Slinky, Scaly Snakes, and One Little Flower Girl. She lives in Huntington, New York. Diane Palmisciano is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and has illustrated more than fifty books for children. She lives in North Scituate, Rhode Island, where she takes long walks with her dog through the woods and at the beach.

Reviews

Grade 1-3--This series entry explores the concept of bar graphs. Marco complains that his allowance is not fair compared to what his friends get and lobbies his dad for an increase, but to no avail. Inspired by a school lesson, the boy presents his father with two bar graphs, the first indicating the dollar amounts he and his friends receive as an allowance, the second showing the number of chores they do at home. When Marco's dad sees his son's charts, he uses the same idea for a presentation for work, further reinforcing the many ways that graphs can be used. Finally, he agrees to raise Marco's allowance to a new "fair" amount. The contrived story is helped enormously by Palmisciano's vividly colored, lively cartoon illustrations. The featured graphs are easy to read and understand. At the end of the book, Dussling includes another set of graphs along with questions for readers to answer, as well as suggested activities requiring adult guidance. An additional purchase.--Mary Ann Carcich, Hampton Bays Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reviewed with Laura Driscoll's The Blast Off Kid.

Gr. 1-2. In two easy readers from the Math Matters series, children solve real-world problems using simple mathematical tools. Blast Off features Jim, who is determined to collect 10,000 "Blast Off Bar" wrappers and win a trip to space camp. With a little publicity and a lot of help from his community, thousands of wrappers start rolling in. Only Jim's ingenious system for grouping them enables him to keep track of the mounting total and win the prize. Cheerful ink-and-watercolor artwork illustrates this clearly told tale. In Fair, Marco tries without success to convince his dad to raise his allowance. When Marco collects data and makes bar graphs, though, he makes his case in a persuasive, inspiring, and ultimately successful way. The last page shows information presented on bar graphs. Similarly, the last page of Blast Off features a place-value chart based on Jim's bundles and bags of wrappers. Brilliant colors and lightly stylized drawings energize the illustrations, which include several charts. Good reading and painless reinforcement for the math curriculum. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Astra Publishing House
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1575651319
• ISBN 13: 9781575651316
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Diane Palmisciano
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32