Math Attack! [Hardcover]

Joan Horton (Author), Kyrsten Brooker (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Each time her teacher asks, “What’s seven times ten?” a young girl experiences a severe case of arithmetic strain. “Numbers flew out of my head by the score. They stuck to the ceiling; they bounced off the floor!” Soon, exploding numbers are taking over her classroom, her school – then the entire town!

Ebullient verse and ingenious collage illustrations full of hilarious escalating antics make this kid-centric romp through the dreaded times tables a read-aloud gem. Clever endpapers feature a multiplication table.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1–3—When one more arithmetic lesson proves the last straw for a numerically exhausted child, leading to a full-blown math attack, the whole town is in peril. Numbers fly out of her head, tangling with arithmetic symbols and situations everywhere. They cause chaos with the clock on the town hall and the prices in the supermarket, knock civil servants down, and pelt the National Guard in helicopters that have been sent to rescue the town. It all begins when Miss Glass asks the answer to seven times ten. "I was thinking so hard all my circuits were loaded./Then all of a sudden, my brain just exploded." Finally, the girl's mental gears begin to grind and the answer, "70!," lights up the sky. The rhyming text is well cadenced, with carefully chosen words that flow easily. Rich paint and collage illustrations combine textures and colors with numbers spilling over the pages. Throughout, both pictures and verse work seamlessly to produce a humorous approach to one of life's basic obstacles for many children: learning the multiplication tables. This book could create a wonderful break during math class or an amusing storytime read-aloud.—Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, ME
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From Booklist

In this picture book, a girl tells about her alarming reaction when her teacher asks, “What’s   seven times ten?” Suddenly, a brainstorm sends volleys of numbers flying out of the girl’s head and whizzing around the room. Sent to the nurse, who diagnoses “a case of arithmetic strain,” the girl is calm until she again utters the words “seven times ten,” unleashing the numeric demons once more. The police, a television news crew, and the National Guard arrive, but nothing helps until her brain computes the answer at last. Told in well-crafted rhymed couplets, the story unfolds at a quick pace. The illustrations, high-energy collages, combine printed and photographic elements with painted ones. The creative juxtaposition of different textures and off-kilter picture components gives a vivid sense of the story’s chaotic events. Absurd and amusing. Grades 1-3. --Carolyn Phelan

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); First Edition edition (March 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374348618
• ISBN-13: 978-0374348618
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,349,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Laughs Multiply!, July 1, 2009

By 

Charles Mitchell (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Math Attack! (Hardcover)

A young student is challenged with the question, "What is 7 x 10?" Her attempt to compute the answer causes numbers to fly from her head which results in playful mayhem that spreads from the classroom through the entire town. Joan Horton's talented pairing of humor and rhyme launches the reader into a rousing journey with wayward numerals. Krysten Brooker's illustrations marry well with the story. The detail in the supermarket scene and the collage of clocks and gears over the heroine's head are especially effective. A comical twist punctuates the triumphant ending - yet another highly entertaining read by Horton!