Hamster Champs

Gr 1-3 -The first book offers a lesson on angles. Three rodents that are racing-car enthusiasts create a series of ramps in an attempt to get the feisty house cat with attitude to stop bothering them. The colorful cartoon animals talk to each other with false bravado and snideness. ( "Back off, fur face!" "Wait till you see what we can do, fleabag!") Unfortunately, the lesson is poorly conceived - children might need more instruction in using a protractor (and might find it hard to believe that a racing car can zoom up a hill of pillows). Using brilliant colors, a variety of transportation modes, and plentiful lizards, "Lizards" demonstrates counting by 5s and 10s. Murphy's rhyming text is short and simple and children can add up the reptiles on each spread. The final striking lizard show spread is jubilant, resembling fireworks on the page. While children may find "Horse" fairly predictable, its likely they will enjoy it. The watercolor cartoon horses and farm setting are appealing and light. The easy-to-read charts in the illustrations provide teaching tools for lessons on predictability as Hankie always does the same thing at the same time. Prior work with telling time is necessary for understanding the text. Beyond the math concept, this gentle story could offer reassurance to children." -Erlene Bishop Killeen, Fox Prairie Elementary School, Stoughton, WI" Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.