STEM-ware, barnyard style, with a bit of math-odical problem-solving.
Chirpy the chick stows away on the school bus with a new feathered friend to learn about pizza…and, oh yes, arithmetic.
Though she avoids the attention of the racially diverse (and surprisingly oblivious) class, Chirpy sees addition, counting tally marks by groups, and fractions demonstrated before the children race out to recess, leaving 10 delectable pizza scraps for her to divide with her relentlessly curious companion Quackers the duckling. Some of that arithmetic comes in handy later when Chirpy heroically faces down Clucky, a bully who has been hogging the feeder, to show her awed fellow chicks how to divide the feed into equal piles so that everyone gets a fair share. Krulik loads her 10 easily digestible chapters with puns and jokes as well as nuggets of learning and caps the episode with a recipe for pizza muffins. Alder’s illustrations, monochrome with yellow highlights, feature a table showing different styles of tally marks commonly used in various parts of the world as well as images of cute chicks (and duckies). Chirpy is distinguished from the other nestlings by her rallying cry—“Chirp chirp cha-ree!”—and the bow on her head decorated in mathematical symbols.
STEM-ware, barnyard style, with a bit of math-odical problem-solving. (cast profiles) (Animal fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-64595-033-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Pixel+Ink
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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