One Chicken Nugget

A favorite fried food, a hungry monster, and an expansive math concept take center stage in Bentley's fresh take on an Indian folktale. Celeste, a young food truck proprietor portrayed with brown skin, purple pigtail puffs, and enormous red glasses, cooks up a plan to get rid of her most insatiable--and most ill-behaved--customer, a purple monster named Frank. Frank is delighted when Celeste debuts the 30-Day Double Nugget Challenge, stipulating that participants eat one nugget the first day, two the second day, and then continue subsequently doubling the amount. Readers will marvel at Frank's capacity for devouring an ever-growing quantity--with barbecue dipping sauce--in Bentley's candy-hued digital images, which make the comic most of both Celeste's tiny-kitchen-cooked nuggets and the concept of exponential growth. An author's note concludes. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)

Inspired by the Indian folktale "One Grain of Rice" or "The Legend of Sissa ibn Dahir," this version focuses on Frank, a monster with an insatiable craving for chicken nuggets, and Celeste, the Black owner of a chicken nugget stand. Every day, Frank comes to Celeste's stand, demanding large quantities of chicken nuggets and scaring away her customers. Celeste quickly grows tired of Frank's lack of manners and decides to concoct a plan to get rid of him for good. She organizes a chicken nugget-eating contest, with the number of chicken nuggets doubling each day for one month. If Frank wins, she promises to cook him free chicken nuggets for the rest of his life. If he loses, he must leave and never come back. Frank is sure he is up to the challenge, but as the number of chicken nuggets begins to grow to outrageous numbers, he starts to struggle. Finally, after over three hundred million nuggets, Frank throws in the towel. He has eaten enough nuggets to last a lifetime. This story provides a funny, lighthearted explanation of exponential growth that is easy to understand for even the most reluctant mathematicians. Bentley's exuberant and colorful illustrations bring the story to life. End notes provide a concise explanation of exponential growth as well as the history of the original folktale. VERDICT For folktale collections or a funny math unit, this is an ideal story for making a greedy point go down smoothly.—Jillian Girardeau

"Delicious to the last morsel." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A funny, lighthearted explanation of exponential growth that is easy to understand for even the most reluctant mathematicians.... An ideal story for making a greedy point go down smoothly." — School Library Journal