Caldecott Honor winner Grace Lin celebrates math for every kid, everywhere!
Grace Lin is the author and illustrator of more than twenty books for children, including the Newbery Honor Book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown), the Geisel Honor Book Ling and Ting- Not Exactly the Same! (Little, Brown), and The Ugly Vegetables. She is also the co-author and illustrator of Our Seasons. She lives in Florence, Massachusetts.
♦ In board book form, Lin accomplishes that most difficult of
tasks: creating engaging, accessible, age-level-appropriate,
not-too-fussily illustrated stories that also teach something. In
this case it’s math. Each entry homes in on a specific mathematical
concept, while together providing a tour through the seasons — and
a slice-of-life portrait of three friends, Olivia, Mei, and Manny.
In the springtime-set Knees, Mei observes measurement and
comparison as she cultivates a sunflower. Circle! Sphere! proves
the mind-stretching fact that the children’s three different-shaped
bubble wands produce the same-shaped bubble. Fit’s setting is a
fall farmers’ market and illustrates Olivia’s spatial sense (and
taste in produce). Wintry Marshmallow touches on division, both
mathematical (how to split three marshmallows between two girls…)
and behavioral (…without ruining the friendship). The illustrations
are signature Lin — think The Ugly Vegetables (rev. 9/99) and the
Ling and Ting books — with bold, saturated hues; thick black
outlines; judicious use of frames; eye-pleasingly tidy details; and
nothing extraneous. Brief “Exploring the Math” notes and “Try
This!” suggestions, addressed to adults and written by an early
math expert, are appended. All together, these diminutive math
storybooks add up to a whole lot of fun.
—The Horn Book, starred review
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
