Monster Musical Chairs: Level 1: Subtracting One (Mathstart: Level 1 (HarperCollins Hardcover))

As six monsters play a wild game of musical chairs, readers learn to subtract--one chair at a time.

Kindergarten-Grade 1-In this book about subtraction, written in couplets with a beat as definite as that of the rock band supplying the music, six smiling monsters are engaged in an animated game of musical chairs. The action begins when the little creatures forcefully throw chairs across the room, telling everybody to "duck." The game proceeds with chairs and monsters being eliminated one by one. The characters' heads are pictured in a vertical row along the outside edge of the right-hand pages, with an X over the one that was unseated in that round. Unfortunately, the order of the heads varies from page to page, muddling the subtraction concept. Starting with an unequal number of chairs and monsters, subtracting one from each group simultaneously, and finally ending with one chair and one monster may be very confusing to young children. The most valuable part of this book is the list of suggested extension activities at the end. Pat Brisson's Benny's Pennies (Bantam, 1995) and Eileen Christelow's Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree (Clarion, 1991) are more to the point.
Lynda Ritterman, Atco Elementary School, NJ
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 3-5. Lovable monsters provide a fun way for youngsters to learn subtraction in this latest entry in the MathStart series. The lively text and animated artwork are a good match for the young audience. Murphy uses bouncy rhymes and simple sentence structure to describe how the musical chairs game works: "Six fuzzy monsters want a seat--see them rock to a monster beat. Five monster chairs all in a line. Sit in one and you'll be fine!" Meanwhile, Nash's silly pictures show the monsters in action, taking care to clearly depict the correct number of monsters and chairs for counting practice. Youngsters will love to join in the rollicking refrain: "Stomp, stomp, SNORT. Shake shimmy, SHOUT! When the music stops, one monster is OUT!" Faces of the monsters remaining after each round are pictured in a narrow column on the far right side of each double-page spread. Two pages of simple extension activities are also included. Lauren Peterson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved