Fair is Fair!

February 15, 2004
Gr 1-3-This series entry explores the concept of bar graphs. Marco complains that his allowance is not fair compared to what his friends get and lobbies his dad for an increase, but to no avail. Inspired by a school lesson, the boy presents his father with two bar graphs, the first indicating the dollar amounts he and his friends receive as an allowance, the second showing the number of chores they do at home. When Marco's dad sees his son's charts, he uses the same idea for a presentation for work, further reinforcing the many ways that graphs can be used. Finally, he agrees to raise Marco's allowance to a new "fair" amount. The contrived story is helped enormously by Palmisciano's vividly colored, lively cartoon illustrations. The featured graphs are easy to read and understand. At the end of the book, Dussling includes another set of graphs along with questions for readers to answer, as well as suggested activities requiring adult guidance. An additional purchase.-Mary Ann Carcich, Hampton Bays Public Library, NY

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2003
Reviewed with Laura Driscoll's " The Blast Off Kid.\i0

Gr. 1-2. In two easy readers from the Math Matters series, children solve real-world problems using simple mathematical tools. " Blast Off" features Jim, who is determined to collect 10,000 "Blast Off Bar" wrappers and win a trip to space camp. With a little publicity and a lot of help from his community, thousands of wrappers start rolling in. Only Jim's ingenious system for grouping them enables him to keep track of the mounting total and win the prize. Cheerful ink-and-watercolor artwork illustrates this clearly told tale. In " Fair," Marco tries without success to convince his dad to raise his allowance. When Marco collects data and makes bar graphs, though, he makes his case in a persuasive, inspiring, and ultimately successful way. The last page shows information presented on bar graphs. Similarly, the last page of " Blast Off" features a place-value chart based on Jim's bundles and bags of wrappers. Brilliant colors and lightly stylized drawings energize the illustrations, which include several charts. Good reading and painless reinforcement for the math curriculum. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)