Let's Add Bills

Children's Literature

The SandCastle "Dollars & Cents" series includes six titles. These books help students of varying reading levels learn about adding and subtracting money. An icon on the cover informs the reader that this book is for the third of four levels of reading proficiency. Bills and coins are introduced, followed by six spreads featuring a kid and something the kid wants to buy, plus money. A pizza costs
— Kristin Harris

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-In Add, each verso has a photograph of something a child might want to buy and its price, two children, and a number of bills. In the first spread, five one-dollar bills belong to Jay and two to Jen. "Do they have enough to buy the pizza?" The right-hand pages present word problems and solutions. Each one is solved by adding the number of bills pictured to see if the item can be purchased by combining the money. Subtract uses the same layout and starts by asking "How many- bills will [a child] have left" after buying an object but then switches to asking "How many more- bills does [he/she] need" to purchase an item. For the intended audience for these books, this switch may cause difficulty. There are not many books that cover the material in these titles, but Stuart J. Murphy's Sluggers' Car Wash (HarperCollins, 2002) is certainly a more entertaining title.-Jean Lowery, Bishop Woods Elementary School, New Haven, CT Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.