The Chicken Problem

August 6, 2012
Peg and Cat have a “perfect” farm picnic planned, complete with a spacey-looking pig as special guest. But when they generously decide to share a tiny piece of pie with a tiny chicken, the 99 other chickens in the coop make their escape: “There were chickens chickens chickens chickens chickens everywhere!” Readers are informed on the first page that solving problems is Peg and Cat’s specialty, and it’s true that they return the chickens to the coop. But it’s a fairly perfunctory process (they carry some and transport the remainder in two wheelbarrows and a baby carriage), especially given the terrific first impression made by Peg (an exuberant, round-headed redhead) and Cat (a purple ovoid with huge, comically beseeching eyes). While there are numerous clues that the book is intended to encourage numeracy, Aronson and Oxley (he’s a veteran writer for stage and TV, she’s an Emmy-award winning animator and director) don’t make much of a connection between mathematical operations and the chicken roundup, aside from some basic addition. Peg and Cat are slated for their own PBS Kids series, Peg + Cat. Ages 3–6.

October 1, 2012

PreS-Gr 1-In this story billed as an introduction to "basic math concepts," Peg and Cat love to "solve problems" and eat pie. Visiting a farm to share their favorite dessert with a resident pig, the child notes four pieces of pie for only three picnickers, so Cat invites a chicken to join them. Problem solved-until Peg realizes that he has inadvertently released 99 other chickens from their coop. Managing to capture only 10 chickens, she has a new problem to solve with the remaining chickens "dashing... splashing... skipping..." all over the farm. When her efforts to corral the fowl don't work, Cat points his tail toward a handy pile of wheelbarrows. "In a flash, the chickens dashed into the wheely things! (Chickens really love going for a ride)" and they are successfully wheeled off to their cages. Now, Peg and friends can sit down and enjoy their pie. Brightly colored, cartoon illustrations appeal in their humorous detail; alternating backgrounds of white space or simulated graph paper and various fonts for narrative, speech, and simple addition equations add visual kick. However, the touted math concepts are weak and barely discernible amid the drawn-out, rather arbitrary plot. Stick with more straightforward choices such as Emily Jenkins's Small Medium Large (Star Bright, 2011), Bill Martin, Jr., and Michael Samson's Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 (S & S, 2004), and Donald Crews's Ten Black Dots (Greenwillow, 1986).-Kathleen Finn, St. Francis Xavier School, Winooski, VT

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2012
Oxley and Aronson present a work based on their new PBS show, Peg + Cat. It's a good thing that Peg and Cat are problem-solvers. Their picnic has been laid, and everyone has a piece of pie just the right size for them--but there are three picnickers and four pieces of pie. While Peg melts down about the lonely piece of pie, Cat goes to the coop and gets a chick, solving the problem. But by leaving the coop unlatched, he has created a bigger problem--100 times larger, to be exact. When collecting the adorable chicks by hand only garners 10, the duo latch onto the MacGuffin of using "wheely things" to lure the chicks back, because "[c]hickens really love going for a ride." While the story is not all that strong, the pictures are a riot, math subtly woven into both the text and layout--the clouds are infinity signs, and the page numbers are all +1 math problems. There are places where the text comes up to the level of the artwork, particularly the spreads that depict the chicks running amok, the text describing their actions so readers can search the chicken-crowded scenes to find them. Standouts include "chickens doing the chicken dance" and "chickens bending over and wiggling their bottoms in the air." Cute, but one can't help but wish for a separation of screen and text. (Picture book. 4-8)

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October 15, 2012
Preschool-G Peg likes solving problems. Her cat, Cat, likes helping her. And both of them like pie. One day when they visit Pig at the farm, they happen to have a pie, which Peg divides. ButBig Problem!there's one small piece left. So Cat opens the door to the chicken coop and brings out a chickie to eat the pie. Problem solved? Nope. Big Problem! The door's unlatched, and soon 100 chickens are leaping and somersaulting around the yard. Although it's billed as a math-concept book, there's relatively little here about counting (most of the addition comes from counting chickens or from the simple addition used to indicate page numbers). That aspect could have been dropped because this is plenty cute on its own. The effort put into the designgraph paper backgrounds, typewriter lettering, and pages overflowing with tiny, identical chicksmakes for a real eye-catcher. The ebullient pictures match a text that's as funny as it is fowl. Kids can count away, but mostly they'll be giggling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)