Synopsis
Here comes the circus! Farm animals frolic and perform while Ringmaster Rat asks the audience to perform simple addition and subtraction. This book is designed to make basic arithmetic fun for very young children.
Pigs, chickens, and other farm animals prance and balance in piles, while the reader is invited to add and subtract their numbers.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1995-03-01 |
| Size | | Height: | 10.3 in | | Width: | 9.5 in | | Thickness: | 0.5 in | | Weight: | 15.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
As the colorfully illustrated farm animals do all their amusing tricks at the circus, Ringmaster Rat poses a series of addition and subtraction problems for children to work out.
Industry Reviews
Directed by the natty Ringmaster Rat, a menagerie of performing farm animals poses simple math problems in Chorao's (Cathedral Mouse) frolicsome book. The festively costumed creatures spill out of a circus wagon, then reappear in various configurations as limned by Chorao's breezy verses: "How many pigs are piled in fun? Add four plus three plus two plus one. If one falls off the pile of ten, how many piled-up piglets then?" (A few rhymes, however, don't quite align: ``other'' and ``together,'' ``his baton'' and ``one by one.'') On each spread, Ringmaster Rat holds a sign with the puzzle arranged numerically, while a nearby balloon displays the answer. Though prominently disclosing the solution reduces the challenge for the upper end of the target audience, it hardly subtracts from the enjoyment. Chorao's cartoony critters are less delicate than in most of her earlier work, but the arithmetical antics here clown-suited porkers forming a wobbly pyramid, chickens in tutus prancing on a high wire impart sum fun. Ages 4-7. (Mar.)
Bernstein
Gr 1-2 Chorao uses her familiar, sprightly animal characters to illustrate this math-concept book in which a variety of humorously clad beasts engage in circus fun, from unicycle riding to tightrope walking. Their antics create an arithmetic game as some fall, tumble, or jump out of view while others join the mayhem. Framed, full-color, double-page illustrations portray the action and simple, rhyming text describes the activities. A numeric equation is featured on the left side of each page on a sign held by Ringmaster Rat, and the answer appears on the right in a balloon held by a mouse. Despite the book's basic rhymes, playful pictures, and circus theme, it is not for preschool or kindergarten children as the math concepts and their visual interpretations will be better understood by primary-grade children. Aileen Friedman's The King's Commissioners (Scholastic, 1995) uses a similar format to introduce multiplication concepts. Not an essential purchase, but a fun way to introduce addition and subtraction at home or in school. Heide Piehler, Shorewood Public Library, WI
Lopate
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