Shapes in transportation

Gr 2-4-These four titles use examples from real life to explain mathematical concepts. The pictures are clear and colorful and help to hold students' attention. Desert introduces the types of graphs: pictograph, bar graph, line graph, and circle or pie graph. The terms "key" and "icon" are also defined. The photos of Sonoran Desert flora and fauna make this book appealing to students. Home introduces the concepts of estimation and measurement with tools such as a ruler, rope, thermometer, stopwatch, measuring cups, and spoons. There is a brief introduction to the metric system and the types of measurement such as weight, volume, height, and time. Farm explains skip-counting, factors, and products with illustrations of pigs, chickens, horses, goats, and crops such as corn and apples. Transportation will help youngsters identify shapes in traffic signs, bridges, buildings, and construction sites. Terms such as dimension, line segment, parallel, prism, cylinder, rhombus, and angle are defined and illustrated with concrete examples. Many of the ideas could be used by parents to incorporate mathematics on any car trip. Sara Pistoia's "Mighty Math" series (The Child's World, 2002) covers similar concepts for the same age group, but without the connecting themes. Solid additions for most libraries.-Ann Joslin, Fort LeBoef School District, Waterford, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.