Sizing Up Winter

August 15, 2013
Flatt's latest, the third in the Math in Nature series, encourages children to use math to measure. Measuring with nonstandard units found in nature--footprints in the snow, otters in lakes, piles of porcupine leftovers--Flatt and Barron encourage children to look at the world in new ways. But this way of measuring may also confuse very young readers, for whom the book is best suited: "How far do flakes fall? / Is it one length for all? / The distance depends / on the start and the end." One question on this spread asks readers to count "[h]ow many snowflakes deep is the snow?" The grid of blue, gray and purple flakes provides the answer--eight--but it doesn't have any basis in reality. Other pages are more successful, encouraging readers to measure using the birds at two birdfeeders, bringing up the issue of the size of the measuring units--each is four birds long, but chickadees and cardinals are different sizes, as are their feeders. Distance, area, capacity, mass, time and comparisons round out the volume, which asks good questions, but children already need to have a good grasp of those concepts in order to answer them. Barron's stunning cut-paper collages are the highlight of the book, while backmatter provides a paragraph of information about each of the featured creatures. When read with a caring adult, this may challenge readers to look at measurement in a different way. (Math picture book. 4-7)

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August 1, 2013

K-Gr 2-Using familiar animals such as cardinals, otters, and porcupines as well as the lesser-known snow fleas, musk oxen, and ptarmigans, Flatt takes readers on a mathematical, seasonal journey. Facts about the animals and the weather share space with measurement problems including distance, time, height, weight, length, area, and mass. The text, mostly in rhyming prose, and the accompanying math problems, which relate to the illustrations, can make for two separate reading experiences. Some sophisticated vocabulary ("capacity," "analog") makes this title better for adult/child sharing than independent reading. "Nature Notes" expand on the brief information about the animals highlighted in the text. Barron's full-page, cut-paper collages use a full palette of color and manage to instill subtle personality into the animals without sacrificing realism. Although most of the pictures show a snowy landscape, there is an acknowledgement that winter may look different depending on where one lives. CChildren who peruse the illustrations carefully and welcome the challenge of problem solving will enjoy this book.-Sara-Jo Lupo Sites, George F. Johnson Memorial Library, Endicott, NY

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