Ten For Me

March 1, 2012

K-Gr 2- In this story told in a singsong rhyme, Rose and Ed strive to learn about and catch butterflies. However, she is far behind him in numbers netted until she turns herself into a walking butterfly habitat. Ed starts out strong in catching and releasing with Rose cleverly overtaking him at the end of the competition. Various examples of counting are given by using combinations of 10, ordinal numbers, and tally marks. Brief facts are provided about butterflies, and Rose adds something to her outfit as each one is given. For example, "Black Swallowtails lay their eggs on plants like carrots, parsley, dill, fennel, and Queen Ann's Lace." Rose is then shown with a carrot in her pocket. Illustrations are large, colorful, and busy with a subplot of a caterpillar changing to a butterfly on Rose. Factual information from the girl's Butterfly Field Guide for Young Explorers is provided in a corner and is designed to look realistic as are tally marks for the competition on a spiral notebook. Readers will enjoy searching the lively spreads for items added to Rose's safari suit and spying the frog that hangs out near Ed. The style is reminiscent of Debra Lee Rose's "Twelve Days of Kindergarten" series (Abrams) with bits of information revealed as readers turn each page. "For Creative Minds" provides extension activities on counting, patterns, and butterflies. The emphasis of this book is more on addition than butterflies and life cycles. Use or recommend Seymour Simon's Butterflies (HarperCollins, 2011) for butterfly information for primary students.-Nancy Baumann, University of Missouri-Columbia

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2011

Rose and Ed learn much more than expected on their butterfly hunt.

Rose sets out with a copy of Butterfly Field Guide for Young Explorers and Ed with just his net. "That first day out, it wasn't much fun / 'cause Ed netted ten and I netted none! / How many in all? Let's add them again! / "Well, 10 + 0 is 10," Ed said. "10 + 0 is 10!" Each day is seen as a double-page spread of the duo hunting in field and garden. As Rose's totals grow, Ed's shrink. The totals in the text are mirrored in a tally of "Butterflies Captured and Released" in the illustrations. Each spread also features a snippet from Rose's book with a butterfly fact: "Question Marks and Red-spotted Purples are attracted to barnyard smells!" By tale's end, Rose nets 10 to Ed's zero, and they discover that over the 11 days they have caught an equal number...except for Rose's surprise chrysalis (that's been busily going through metamorphosis through each picture). Educator Mariconda and Rogers (Sort It Out!, 2008, etc.) reteam for an excellent rhyming tale that doubles as math lesson and triples as a butterfly-biology primer. Four pages of realistically illustrated butterfly/math activities for older readers follow the story.

An essential purchase for elementary teachers and libraries looking for cross-curricular books. (Picture book. 5-10)

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