General & Miscellaneous Basic Concepts, Mathematics & Measurement, Memory, Counting

Seaweed Soup (MathStart)

Name: Seaweed Soup (MathStart)
Author: Stuart J. Murphy
ISBN: 9780064467360

by Stuart J. Murphy, Frank Remkiewicz

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Overview

It's slimy. It's smelly. Its green and it's gooey. It's seaweed soup — and its Turtle's favorite lunch!

Turtle has made enough seaweed soup for everyone. But it looks awful and smells worse! Nobody wants to even taste it. How can they tell Turtle without hurting his feelings?

As Turtle serves lunch to his reluctant guests, young readers can learn about matching sets (also called one-to-one correspondence) by keeping track of all the different bowls, cups, spoons, and napkins on the table. Lighthearted art and a surprise ending make this a story readers will eat up.

As he asks more and more friends to join him for lunch, Turtle must make up sets of dishes to accommodate them.

Synopsis

It's slimy. It's smelly. Its green and it's gooey. It's seaweed soup — and its Turtle's favorite lunch!

Turtle has made enough seaweed soup for everyone. But it looks awful and smells worse! Nobody wants to even taste it. How can they tell Turtle without hurting his feelings?

Children's Literature

Young students learn about matching sets in Seaweed Soup. This is an important concept for counting¾understanding more than/less than and understanding patterns. Turtle has made a great pot of soup. Just as he is sitting down to enjoy it, his friends wander by. Turtle asks them to join him in a lunch of seaweed soup. The soup smells terrible, but the friends, one by one, reluctantly agree to join him. As each friend sits down at the table, Turtle runs off to get another bowl, spoon, napkin and cup. While Turtle is off looking for a final set of utensils for himself, his friends try his soup and really love it. Unfortunately for Turtle, they eat it all. But Turtle has a surprise for them. A Level 1 book from the "Math Starts" series. 2001, HarperCollins, $15.95. Ages 3 to 8. Reviewer:Kristin Harris

About the Author, Stuart J. Murphy

Stuart J. Murphy is a visual learning specialist. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, he has a strong background in design and art direction. He also has extensive experience in the world of educational publishing. Drawing on all these talents, Stuart J. Murphy brings a unique perspective to the MathStart series. In MathStart books, pictures do more than tell stories; they teach math.

Stuart J. Murphy and his wife, Nancy, live in Boston.

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Editorials

Children's Literature

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-Murphy's humorous text indirectly teaches about sets as Turtle sits down to enjoy his thick green, gooey seaweed soup. Each time unsuspecting friends come by, they are invited to lunch and Turtle goes to his shelf to find extra place settings. When he runs out of an item, he makes another set with substitutes. For instance, a jelly jar serves for a cup, a toy shovel becomes a spoon, etc. Children will enjoy the story and its surprising ending while learning about the concept. The bright watercolor cartoons by the artist of "Froggy" fame lend a deft and humorous touch to the proceedings. The last pages have tips for further fun with math, suggestions for activities around the house, plus a short list of other stories with similar concepts. Well worth considering.-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

0-06-028033-6 The talents of Murphy (Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes, above, etc.) and Remkiewicz (Froggy Eats Out, p. 414, etc.) add up to a humorous tale about sweet-natured Turtle, a charming host who invites a succession of sea creature friends to enjoy some of his fresh seaweed soup. Turtle's friends think the "thick and green, gooey and slimy" soup looks suspect, but don't want to hurt their kind friend's feelings. For each additional guest, Turtle sets a place at his table with a cup, spoon, napkin, and bowl-the elements of the mathematical sets (also called one-to-one correspondence) that is the story's theme. As the number of guests increases, Turtle finds that he has to make do with a variety of tableware that doesn't always match but that serves the same function. The guests find to their surprise that the soup is delicious, and their polite manners and Turtle's touching hospitality provide life lessons beyond math concepts. A chart near the end shows all the tableware sets in rows, offering additional opportunities for counting and matching subsets. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-7)