Bears Make the Best Math Buddies

April 15, 2019
In this follow-up to Bears Make the Best Reading Buddies (2016), Adelaide and her friendly bear are back to ace mathematics. Dressed in a sweater patterned with geometric shapes and arithmetical symbols, Bear is ready to tackle math assignments. Although her class is working on first-grade addition and subtraction, Adelaide makes far-reaching claims about Bear's mathematical prowess. She proceeds to detail ursine creatures' varied skills, and the brightly colored digital illustrations show Bear, with Adelaide's help, demonstrating these. From building a treehouse using complex measurements and comparing a compass face to a watch face, they go on to simple geometry and arithmetic. When Adelaide and her friend go berry picking, he shows her how to "sort [the different fruits] into groups so they can analyze their haul and sum up their rewards." Real-world connections are further clarified in an ice cream shop, when Bear and Adelaide get superduper cones and the tab is $12.45. (Too bad it's impossible for clever readers to use the price board to understand how the cashier arrived at that total.) Adelaide's statement that bears understand that "math is everywhere" clinches it for Mrs. Fitz-Pea. Adelaide presents white, Mrs. Fitz-Pea has brown skin, and the other students are diverse. While it's a swift survey, it effectively conveys the importance of math in everyday life. Adelaide and her buddy will help kids get "the whole picture." (Picture book. 5-7)

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