The Lion's Share [Hardcover]

Matthew McElligott (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: January 20, 2009 | Age Range: 4 - 8 years

When Ant receives a special invitation to dine with Lion, she is ready to be on her best behavior. During dessert, the other guests do not mind their manners, each one taking half of the remaining cake as it is passed around. By the time it reaches Ant, barely a crumb is left for her to share with the King! She promises to make up for it by baking another cake for the King, and not to be outdone, all the other animals in turn offer to make twice as many cakes as the next. By the time the hippo speaks up, he’s to bake 256 peanut butter cakes! With McElligott’s signature humor and gorgeous mixed-media art, the math concepts of halving and doubling have never been so much fun.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 3—The king of the jungle has a small party every year for his closest friends, even though they are greedy and ill-mannered. The lion graciously passes cake to the elephant, telling him to help himself. The elephant takes half. Each animal in turn takes half of what is passed, leaving only a crumb for the ant to share with the king. Instead, the ant says that he will bake the king a fresh cake in the morning. Each animal then ups the ante by doubling the previous offer, culminating with the elephant committing himself to baking 256. This mouthwatering tale of division and multiplication will delight young readers as they imagine a palace full of cakes. The captivating ink and watercolor illustrations, enhanced with digital techniques, continually reinforce the mathematical theme with humor and detail. Many layouts effectively present a graphic display of the simple fraction concepts. The results are terrific. Because young readers will relish the absurdity of the story, it will hold up to repeated readings to reinforce math instruction.—Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Set on the savannah, this original animal fable weaves math exercises into a story about sharing. At an elegant dinner hosted by the lion king, a tiny ant is appalled at the poor manners of her fellow animal guests, who arrive late, throw food, and talk only about themselves. Dessert is even worse. The elephant takes half the cake for himself, and each guest, following his greedy lead, takes half of the remaining portions until only a tiny crumb is left for the ant and the lion. Mortified, the ant offers to bake a new cake for the lion. Then the beetle offers to bake two cakes, and a round of one-upmanship (and math practice) ensues: each animal offers double the number of cakes proposed by the previous guest. McElligott’s digitally touched ink-and-watercolor artwork combines expressive animal characters with clear groupings of objects that illustrate the embedded arithmetic exercises. While the story will find an obvious place in early elementary math or character education units, the lively illustrations amplify the story’s slapstick humor and will easily entertain story hour crowds. Grades 1-3. --Gillian Engberg

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 - 8 years
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Walker Childrens (January 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802797687
• ISBN-13: 978-0802797681
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #341,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Matthew McElligott is the author and illustrator of many books for children including Even Aliens Need Snacks, Benjamin Franklinstein Lives!, Even Monsters Need Haircuts, The Lion's Share, Bean Thirteen, and several books about Backbeard the pirate. Like Backbeard, he is big, smelly, messy, and not too bright.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A book with everything August 30, 2009

By Travis Ann Sherman VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

As a children's librarian, I picked this book, almost at random, to check out for my four-year-old grandson. After three months, I had to buy him his own copy, and even then he wanted to keep my library copy for downstairs and his new one for upstairs. This outstanding book offers everything. Yes, it book teaches fractions and exponents (did I mention the illustrations are Caldecott quality and the sophisticated humor wry?) It even teaches good manners, but it does all this while telling a story so convincingly that a four-year-old lays aside his set of Transformers to beg for more. The Lion's Share is shortlisted on my Best Books of the Year.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book January 2, 2010

By Brian Kramp

Format:Hardcover

This book is great on many levels:
1. It appeals to me, a computer programmer, in that it teaches kids powers of 2, which are important to know for computer programming.
2. It has a good moral about sharing.
3. The drawings are unique, and it keeps things moving well. It's not too long.

I was surprised my 2-year old isn't that interested in it, but my 5 year-old loved it. We only read it once so far.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Way To Learn Fractions March 1, 2009

By V. Nicewonger

Format:Hardcover

The author has come up with a fun way to understand math, particularly fractions. This is underlined by bold illustrations of believable animals. Your children will want to read this book over and over again as they will learn something new every time.