Ants at the Picnic: Counting by Tens

Children's Literature - Nancy Garhan Attebury

Everyone has seen ants and this book is full of them. A fanciful cover shows them invading the picnic area that is decorated with watermelon, mustard, and potato salad, as well a red-and-white checkered tablecloth. A title page depicts more picnic items added to the first ones. That page is followed by a two-page spread showing a grill, hotdogs, and a boom box. The large print and few words per page offer a tale of fun for page-flippers. The book's progression for counting by tens runs down from 100 to 0 as the ants carry off one picnic item after another; they even carry off Aunt Helen! The good thing is that at the end of the book, there are no more ants left. And the picnic food is all gone, too! This book from the "Know Your Numbers" series is simple but humorous, and it is one kids will enjoy. A hidden "tens" number for each page allows children to take a closer look at the spreads. A fun fact section follows at the end of the book. Utilize this book to supplement math lessons in the classroom.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-These four books all tell their stories through the structure of counting by 10, and they do so in various ways. Ten ants carry off picnic food, 10 woodpeckers each have 10 tail feathers and the number of feathers decreases by 10 as each bird flies away, a young bear gives away 10-petaled flowers to folks in his community, and 10 toes join the fun at the beach. Throughout the books, the featured numbers are hidden in the collage-style illustrations and are shown through a grid with a matching number of dots. Although there is certainly a need for easy books to use when teaching the times tables, there is no need for four such similar ones, and none of these books is outstanding. The texts are choppy, the illustrations are uneven, and the elements seem disjointed. Toasty Toes and Tail Feather Fun are the best of this bunch, but there are better choices for math picture books, such as Stuart J. Murphy's "MathStart" series (HarperCollins).-Genevieve Gallagher, Murray Elementary School, Charlottesville, VA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.