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Overview
Poor tiny Birdie has no house. But Birdie does have friends.
Spike, Queenie, Goldie, and Fidget want to help Birdie find a house of his own. Birdie needs a house that isn't too tall and isn't too thin, that isn't too short and isn't too fat, and that isn't too wide and isn't too narrow. Will they find a house for Birdie before the rain falls and the wind blows?
A sweet and simple story about helping out a friend explains the math concept of capacity — what will fit in a container of a particular shape and size.
Birdie needs a home, one that isn't too big and isn't too small, to keep him out of the rain. Join this little bird and his feathered friends as they look for the perfect home. It won't be easy finding one that's the right size.
Synopsis
Poor tiny Birdie has no house. But Birdie does have friends.
Spike, Queenie, Goldie, and Fidget want to help Birdie find a house of his own. Birdie needs a house that isn't too tall and isn't too thin, that isn't too short and isn't too fat, and that isn't too wide and isn't too narrow. Will they find a house for Birdie before the rain falls and the wind blows?
A sweet and simple story about helping out a friend explains the math concept of capacity — what will fit in a container of a particular shape and size.
Susan Schott Karr - Children's Literature
Birdie and his four fine-feathered friends have an adventure on their hands as they search for the perfect living accommodations for Birdie, who has no house. During the course of the story, the friends have better luck than Birdie, and each settles into a space that is a good "fit," whether that is a house fit for a tall, thin and narrow bird or a short, fat and wide one. (Not to worry, Birdie makes out all right in the end.) The point here is to teach the young reader the concept of volume or capacity. This paperback is marked as a Level 1 "MathStart" series book. It would have been a great help to get some clarification on the differences between thin and narrow, wide and fat. Without as much as a visual reference, it's hard to tell which is which; it's a concept that would have been better off not taken for granted. The illustrations are fairly simplistic (imagine the way a first grader draws a tree), but the colors are bright, and the book has a feeling of movement. Indeed, the birds fly in a left-to-right progression from the story's start to its end. Readers will find a list of activities at the end of the book; they are written for adults and kids, yet may be of more interest to teachers trying to drive home a point than to kids in search of amusement. 2004, HarperCollins, and Ages 4 to 8.
Editorials
Children's Literature
Birdie and his four fine-feathered friends have an adventure on their hands as they search for the perfect living accommodations for Birdie, who has no house. During the course of the story, the friends have better luck than Birdie, and each settles into a space that is a good "fit," whether that is a house fit for a tall, thin and narrow bird or a short, fat and wide one. (Not to worry, Birdie makes out all right in the end.) The point here is to teach the young reader the concept of volume or capacity. This paperback is marked as a Level 1 "MathStart" series book. It would have been a great help to get some clarification on the differences between thin and narrow, wide and fat. Without as much as a visual reference, it's hard to tell which is which; it's a concept that would have been better off not taken for granted. The illustrations are fairly simplistic (imagine the way a first grader draws a tree), but the colors are bright, and the book has a feeling of movement. Indeed, the birds fly in a left-to-right progression from the story's start to its end. Readers will find a list of activities at the end of the book; they are written for adults and kids, yet may be of more interest to teachers trying to drive home a point than to kids in search of amusement. 2004, HarperCollins, and Ages 4 to 8.—Susan Schott Karr