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ALPHABET RESCUE

In the newest installment of Audrey and Bruce Wood’s alphabet series, Charley goes to visit his grandparents for the summer, and his lowercase letters go on vacation to Alphabet City, the place where they were born. There, the lowercase letters are excited to see a new fire truck—until they are told that they are too small to use it. Wandering around, they find an abandoned fire truck, clean off the m-u-d themselves and proceed to save a c-a-t from a tree. Suddenly, the factory where all letters are made catches fire, and the capital letters’ truck’s tire blows out. It’s up to the lowercase letters to save the day and work together with the capital letters to squelch the flames—and return home in time to help Charley write a thank-you note to his grandparents. While the plot is a trifle thin, the hyper-realistic artwork, the bright colors, the spelling puzzles and the inventive use of letters within the text will no doubt appeal to children just becoming familiar with their ABCs. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-439-85316-8

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006

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TEN LITTLE FISH

This charming, colorful counting tale of ten little fish runs full-circle. Although the light verse opens and closes with ten fish swimming in a line, page-by-page the line grows shorter as the number of fish diminishes one-by-one. One fish dives down, one gets lost, one hides, and another takes a nap until a single fish remains. Then along comes another fish to form a couple and suddenly a new family of little fish emerges to begin all over. Slick, digitally-created images of brilliant marine flora and fauna give an illusion of underwater depth and silence enhancing the verse’s numerical and theatrical progression. The holistic story bubbles with life’s endless cycle. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-439-63569-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2004

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THE ANIMALS WOULD NOT SLEEP!

From the Storytelling Math series

Nothing riveting but serviceable enough.

Children are introduced to the concepts of sorting and classifying in this bedtime story.

It is getting close to bedtime, and Marco’s mother asks him to put his toys away. Marco—who thinks of himself as a scientist—corrects her: “You mean time to sort the animals.” And that’s what he proceeds to do. Marco sorts his animals into three baskets labeled “Flying Animals,” “Swimming Animals,” and “Animals That Move on Land,” but the animals will not sleep. So he sorts them by color: “Mostly Brown,” “Black and White,” and “Colors of the Rainbow,” but Zebra is upset to be separated from Giraffe. Next, Marco sorts his animals by size: “Small,” “Medium,” and “Large,” but the big animals are cramped and the small ones feel cold. Finally, Marco ranges them around his bed from biggest to smallest, thus providing them with space to move and helping them to feel safe. Everyone satisfied, they all go to sleep. While the plot is flimsy, the general idea that organizing and classifying can be accomplished in many different ways is clear. Young children are also presented with the concept that different classifications can lead to different results. The illustrations, while static, keep the focus clearly on the sorting taking place. Marco and his mother have brown skin. The backmatter includes an explanation of sorting in science and ideas for further activities.

Nothing riveting but serviceable enough. (Math picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-62354-128-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Charlesbridge

Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020

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