Animals on Board: Adding (Mathstart: Level 2 (HarperCollins Hardcover)) [Hardcover]

Stuart J. Murphy (Author), R. W. Alley (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1998 | Series: Mathstart: Level 2 (HarperCollins Hardcover)

Introduces simple addition through a rhyming text about animals being delivered for a merry-go-round.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-This picture book tells a story and reinforces the concept of addition. The lively watercolor illustrations serve both missions well. While on the road, a female truck driver and a dog are passed by many other vehicles loaded with various animals. As their journey advances so do the math problems, going from the simple "3 + 2 = 5" to the final "9 + 0 = 9." However, there is no logical progression in the examples provided; why does "6 + 1 = 7" follow "3 + 2 = 5?" The text is told in rhyme, which adds to the sense of movement but it is rather singsong. All of the characters end up at a carousel (made from the drivers' freight) and the final illustrations capture their joy and excitement. The book ends with a two-page spread of suggested activities for kids and adults. The "Level 2" designation suggests that this is designed for ages 6 and up but the simplicity of the story and rhyme as well as the juvenile nature of the illustrations would be more appealing to a younger audience.
Edith Ching, St. Albans School, Mt. St. Alban, Washington, DC
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

From the MathStart series, this story in rhyme lays out five simple addition problems. A truck driver, Jill, watches as a series of trucks--all pulling different animals--pass her by. The math gets worked into the story as Jill adds, for example, the six swans on one truck to the one swan on a second truck (6+1=7 is imbedded in the text). Using this pattern, the reader is able to practice addition while guessing the trucks' final destination. The last line of the story reads "Can you find 5 tigers, 7 swans, 8 frogs, 10 horses, and 9 pandas?" , and Alley's watercolor shows a giant carousel. Two pages of activities are appended, but an obvious omission is asking children to calculate the total number of animals on the carousel. Kathy Broderick

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; 1st edition (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060274425
• ISBN-13: 978-0060274429
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,789,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stuart J. Murphy is a visual learning specialist. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, he has a strong background in design and art direction. He also has extensive experience in the world of educational publishing. Drawing on all these talents, Stuart J. Murphy brings a unique perspective to the MathStart series. In MathStart books, pictures do more than tell stories; they teach math. Stuart J. Murphy and his wife, Nancy, live in Evanston, Illinois.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Addition left to right, October 19, 2004

By 

CG "Teacher" (Denver CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animals on Board (MathStart 2) (Paperback)

I disagree with the last reviewer. As a first grade teacher, I liked that the number sentences demonstrated the commutative property (could that be why the author had the animals commuting? LOL) Our class could discuss how the sentence 5+2 is the same as 2+5 for example - regardles of which group on what truck was counted first the total animals is the same. We could make trucks and put our own little animal on them, and write our own # sentences in our own little books - changing the order of the trucks and getting the same result. (Part-part-whole concept.) A child shouldn't be taught that adding two quantities works only one direction and it's either right or wrong based on the direction you write the # sentence. 5+2 =7 is the same as 2+5=7. Even 7=5+2 or 7=2+5 is correct! I appreciate that that the numbers are commutable in this text!

CG

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Orientation problems, August 22, 2001

By 

"a_mom" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animals on Board (MathStart 2) (Paperback)

The concept for the book is very nice: adding everyday objects. The problem comes in the way the drawings are done. On one page, we see a truck carrying three tigers. On the next page, a truck carrying two more tigers follows the first. Below is a billboard with the equation: 3+2=5. Enter the problem. Whereas in the equation the number 3 is on the left, in the illustration the picture of the truck with the three tigers is on the right side. Similarly, the 2 in the equation is to the right of the 3, in the drawing the truck with the two tigers is on the far left. It would have been *much* nicer if the layout of the equation and the layout of the truck corresponded to one another.

On a finer point, because in the USA (and obviously in other parts of the world) we read from left to right it's consistent to teach children to work this way, too. Having children jump around to count first the three tigers on the right, then jump left to count the remaining two can cause unnecessary confusion.

To be fair, above the equation are pictures of the corresponding number of tigers, so the tigers can be counted/viewed there also. Still, the awkward positioning is unfortunate.

The rhyming text is adequate, but nothing special. The illustrations are very nice. They manage to be interesting and colorful without distracting from the actual story.

From the rave reviews I read on the MathStart series, I expected more.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cute Beginning Math Book - a review of "Animals on Board", August 25, 2006

By 

Pam Tee "Busy Mom" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Animals on Board (MathStart 2) (Paperback)

Interesting comments (below) about this book, BUT I have to say that we didn't even notice the fact that the equations and the sequence of the numbers didn't match until I read the reviews here.

In any case, let me give you our viewpoints on the book.

First the equations covered:

3 + 2 = 5

6 + 1 = 7

4 + 4 = 8

7 + 3 = 10

9 + 0 = 9

Now, with only 5 equations you won't be producing a math whiz, but what you can do is introduce the idea of equations and addition to children.

Personally I am using this book with my preschooler (boy-4 yo). [It is too limited in scope for my 6 yo Kindergarten age daughter.] We count the animals and I ask him to read the equation, and he IS grasping the basic idea of addition and formulas. The way that the equation is shown with pictures of the animals right above the animals helps a lot in getting this across.

Four Stars. Colorful bright book that addresses simple equations in a manner that (some) preschoolers and most older children can readily understand. The concept is interesting to children and done in a way that makes sense to them.