Help Me Learn Addition

In this companion to Help Me Learn Numbers 0-20, Marzollo and Phillips teach basic addition skills by making use of rhymed verse and bright photographs of toys and other recognizable objects. In one spread, a word problem prompts readers to add up the riders on a toy train ("Here comes the math train/ straight from Penn!/ 7 plus 3/ equals 10"), while other scenes feature monster finger puppets and ceramic dogs. Concepts like "skip counting" and using tally marks are also introduced, although the rhymes can get overwrought in the process: "Spaceship babies/ want to know more./ Can we tell them what tally marks are for?/ Tally marks help/ us count today./ Here's a math sentence/ the tally mark way." Still, this is an inviting visual introduction to addition. Ages 3-7. (Mar.)

PreS-Gr 2--Using the clean photographic style and bouncing rhymes of Marzollo's "I Spy" series (Scholastic), this energetic picture book features basic math concepts such as counting, addition, counting by twos and fives, using tally marks, subtraction, and division. Child-friendly objects such as marbles, finger puppets, and animal figurines demonstrate each concept. The book is well suited for reading aloud, with mathematical challenges worked into the verses, allowing rhymes to give clues to the answers. Phillips's brightly colored photos make effective use of negative space to highlight specific mathematical elements; the book as a whole demonstrates similar thoughtfulness in the way concepts progress in difficulty, building from previous examples so as not to overwhelm.--Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD

"Child-friendly."