Monster Math School Time by Grace Maccarone, Marilyn Burns, Marge Hartelius (Illustrator), Marge Hartelius (Illustrator)

Children's Literature

Learn about telling time with these friendly monsters in a new book from the "Hello Math Reader" series. "At six o'clock, monsters wake. At seven o'clock they make a mistake." This delightful book takes the reader through the day, hour by hour, depicting the passage of time each hour in both digital and analog clocks. The colorful monsters will appeal to young children, and their daily routine will be helpful to teachers as they introduce the concept of telling time. While most of the rhyming text describes what the monsters do on the hour, four pages show clocks at the quarter and half hours, providing useful examples for children ready to move beyond the basics of telling time. The bright illustrations show these friendly monsters at school, home and play. The last six pages of the book contain activities for adults to do with young learners.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2Two beginning readers with rhyming texts and colorful illustrations. The math concepts are evident but do not overpower the stories. The concluding activities can be used in a variety of ways with different age groups. Through a cumulative rhyme, The 512 Ants presents the concept of doubling numbers. A little girl and her caregiver start off on a picnic and "1 ant" sees them through his telescope. Then two ants appear, then fouruntil 512 ants "had a picnic with goodies to eat, down in their ant hole on Sullivan Street." Merrell's illustrations are humorous and imaginative, especially in the way he shows the ants using various parts of the picnic fare to help get food out of the basket. Monster Math presents a day in the life of 12 different monsters, from their 6:00 a.m. wake-up through their day at school, until bedtime at 8:00 p.m. The author includes quarter-hour times, which are not often found in books for this age group. Two clocks appear on each page, one digital and one with hands. Hartelius's monsters create a very diverse, amusing school population. She has also provided some interesting details in the background illustrations. Readers will chuckle at some of the funny faces on the teapots and candlesticks and the strange animals the monsters take for show-and-tell. Two books with definite child appeal.Mary Ann Bursk, Bucks County Free Library, Levittown, PA

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