I debated about whether to give this book an “additional purchase,” or a “not recommended.”  Since I really wished I could recommend it, I decided “additional purchase” was the compromise rating.  Each two-page shares a twist on a classic poem (“based on the poem…by…), in which a mathematical puzzler (or two) has been tucked.  It’s clever and fun, and the answers are provided, along with one way to show the work.  My reason for not recommending may seem overly persnickety to some, but mathematics is discipline all about precision, and there are several spots in the book where it lacks precision, either in the answer or the way it states the question.  It states that 1/9=0.11111 instead of 0.111… or using the repeating mark over the 1.  In one poem it describes the size of a garden as “eight by two” without labeling the measurements (feet, meters, yards…?), and yet the answer to the perimeter and area are stated in feet/square feet.  One poem asks readers to figure the number of teeth a shark has — after telling us how many were in the first row, and that there are four additional rows of teeth, it asks, “if each of those had half as many. How many teeth would equal plenty?” (okay, I just noticed lack of precision in punctuation as well, as that should have been a comma instead of a period at the end of that dependent clause) — Is that each row having half as many as the first row or half as many as the preceding row?  Another states that someone is being eaten “by a hippo-po-tah-tum at 4 percent per bite.”  Figuring out how many bites it would take is straightforward enough if one assumes the size of the bites stays constant, based on the percentage of the original size of the person, but significantly more complicated (not to mention gruesomely, unendingly torturous for the poor victim) if each bite is 4% of what’s left after the last bite.  As I said, I recognize that my criticisms of the book are highly nitpicky, and if they don’t bother you, you might still want the book, but math really is a subject all about precision, and though clever and fun, precision is missing several times.

Stunning! Fabulous! Amazing!  The simple text is almost poetical as it describes a spiral as a snuggling shape, a growing shape, a strong shape, a clever shape, and the gorgeous illustrations on each page depict examples from nature where spirals are found in the context described in that bit of text.  Labels tucked cozily in among the illustrations offer scientific vocabulary for further investigations.  Informational blurbs in the back offer more detailed explanations of how/why spirals serve the entities described in the main body of the book.  Highly recommended.  Though a picture book intended for young audiences, I could see it finding purpose in high school geometry, art, or biology classes.

The unifying gimmick running through this book is photographs of silly faces made from healthy food.  This may be the first bilingual ABC book I’ve encountered.  With each page dedicated to a letter of the alphabet, the perimeter of each page lists (next to illustrative photographs) healthy foods that start with that letter of the alphabet in either English or Spanish (or both, in the case of banana).  In capital letters next to each photo is the word for that food in the language that starts with the applicable letter; underneath, in parentheses and italics, is the translation of the name of the food.  There seems to be a good mix of how many are labeled primarily in English, and how many primarily in Spanish.  It is left to the reader to determine which language is represented by the primary label, and which by the secondary label.  In the center of each page is a large photo of a silly face created by the foods around the edges.  The back of the book includes informational blurbs on each of the featured foods, project ideas, and instructions for creating one’s own silly face.  A fun and creative approach to introducing students to perhaps unfamiliar foods.

If your collection needs a book on bicycle safety, I suppose this will fit the bill.  The text, presented in both English and Spanish, is simple and straightforward, telling of a young boy who receives a bicycle for his birthday, and all the precautions he takes to learn to ride it safely.  The illustrations are bright and cheerful and support the text.  Scattered throughout the book are text boxes highlighting and explaining particular safety tips.  Not exactly stimulating reading, but it serves a purpose and does it well.

The illustrations a re bright and cheerful and inviting.  The book begins with note Tu B’Shevat as a Jewish holiday, describing some of the customs there of, and comparing it to Arbor Day.  The story tells of Joni and her friend, Nate trying to figure out what to do for Joni’s tree to celebrate its birthday.  In the end it comes down to making a promise to always be good to the trees of the world.  A good book for making an environmental care-taking point, but a bit pedantic as a story.

The illustrations are kind of fun, and there might be some teachers who’d like to use it at the beginning of the school year, but really the text is just one long rhyming list of things not to do.  And then at the end it finally says, do have fun.  Really its kinda tedious.

I like it! I like it!  The illustrations are bright and engaging and humorous.  The rhyming story tells of a young girl growing up in a family of pirates, yet longing for the life of a landlubber.  (I particularly like the side-step of stereotypes that makes her mom the Pirate Captain and her dad the cook.) Despite not quite fitting in on board, Victricia’s eccentricities manage to help save the ship from the clutches of a sea serpent, and she is rewarded by finally getting her wish of being put ashore, where she opens a bookstore (no pillaging or plundering books).  Her family and friends come by to visit, and become “the world’s first seafaring librarians.”

On the one hand, with recent interest being generated by Rick Riordan’s books, it’s nice to have a book in the genre of Egyptian mythology, but I really wish it was better.  The telling of the story seems a bit bland, and the quality of the illustrations is inconsistent — some are quite strong, and some are a bit flat in the characters’ expressions.

Ack! Translation creates enough problems when a story written in English is poorly translated into Spanish.  But this story is designed/intended to be a bilingual story.  If a writer has such a purpose from the start, it seems reasonable to expect her to write story that works in both languages.  This one does not.  It tells of the story of a creature with an exceptionally long tongue that won’t fit in his mouth, and the troubles this causes:  when he orders ham and cheese, the waiter brings him a hat a sheep.  That works in English (stick out your tongue and try saying the words, and it’s a reasonable mistake).  The Spanish words in the translated portion of the book sound nothing alike — this would in no way be a reasonable mistake.

I will say this for the book:  it uses lots of simple, repetitive language, which is good for emergent readers.  But the story opens by introducing the robot character, listing several special tools this robot has, and stating, “He uses the tools to help his best friend, Rico.”  The problem is that robot never uses a single one of those tools to help his friend.