ROOM FOR RIPLEY

PLB 0-06-027621-5 paper 0-06-446724-4 Room For Ripley (32 pp.; $15.95; PLB $15.89; paper $4.95; Sept. 30; 0-06-027620-7; PLB 0-06-027621-5; paper 0-06- 446724-4) Murphy (see review, above) ably conveys the role of volume in measurement for this MathStart entry, but the story he uses as a vehicle is dull. Carlos wants to buy a fish, which he has named Ripley, from the local pet shop. His sister Ana helps him prepare a home for the guppy by filling a gallon fishbowl with cups of water, all 16 of them. The insipid text isn’t helped by the pictures; while Wickstrom does a good job using a pyramid format to illustrate liquid measurement, her characters’s features are frozen and without expression. More interesting for readers will be to deploy the tips at the end of the book intended to enhance their understanding of capacity, e.g., estimating volume and comparing the liquid amounts in various containers. (Picture book. 7-9)