Synopsis
Each time her teacher asks, “What’s seven times ten?” a young girl experiences a severe case of arithmetic strain. “Numbers flew out of my head by the score. They stuck to the ceiling; they bounced off the floor!” Soon, exploding numbers are taking over her classroom, her school – then the entire town!
Ebullient verse and ingenious collage illustrations full of hilarious escalating antics make this kid-centric romp through the dreaded times tables a read-aloud gem. Clever endpapers feature a multiplication table.
Publishers Weekly
A hopelessly perplexed student sends her school and community into chaos when she's stumped by a simple multiplication question. Asked "what's seven times ten?" her brain "just exploded," causing numerals to spew from the top of her head. "Everywhere, numbers were tumbling down-/ On the school yard and houses and streets of the town./ They halted the traffic; horns started blaring./ Dogs began barking and townsfolk stood staring." The "girl-befuddled-by-math" stereotype is in full play, though it may be overlooked given Brooker's (Someday When My Cat Can Talk) engaging mixed media collage (photographs of stocked shelves and fresh produce fill a scene in which renegade numbers wreak havoc in the supermarket). Horton's (Halloween Hoots and Howls) narrative bounces along in fairly predictable rhymes until the girl's gray matter kicks in ("That's when I heard it-a strange whirring sound/ As gears in my head started spinning around"). Just when it looks like she's back on track, a new math problem stumps her all over again. Not an encouraging read for those intimidated by the subject, but the high-energy artwork will entertain. Ages 5-9. (Mar.)
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