Review by New York Times Review
There's so much you can do with just the first three numbers, as Ruzzier ("A Letter for Leo") shows in this compact take on the counting book. Two mice, drawn with Ruzzier's usual warm quirkiness, confront visual problems in the form of one, two or three - boats and oars or, suspensefully, a mama eagle with three mouths to feed. What a cute, clever way into number sense. THE GREAT AND MIGHTY NIKKO! A Bilingual Counting Book. Written and illustrated by Xavier Garza. 32 pp. Cinco Puntos. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 2 to 7) Lucha libre fans who also have little ones to share books with: Rejoice! Garza brings the Mexican masked wrestlers into the home of a boy named Nikko with bursts of comics-style color and a muralist's larger-than-life energy. Nikko's mother says to stop wrestling on his bed. The luchadores keep increasing one by one, until there are 10 - and an epic battle in side-by-side English and Spanish. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Numbers in Nature By Nancy Raines Day. Illustrated by Kurt Cyrus. 32 pp. Beach Lane. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) The numerical nature of nature forms the basis of this elegant rhymed counting book, which calls attention to orderly patterns all around us. What comes grouped in threes? "Leaves of a clover, bodies of bees." Nines? "Stickleback fish's prickly spines." We end with a set that is "too big to count" - stars in the night sky, in constellations shaped like the previous numbered things. CHARLIE PIECHART AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING PIZZA SLICE By Eric Comstock and Marilyn Sadler. 40 pp. Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) In this retro-pop treat, pizza night at Charlie's house requires some fleet calculations: If you've ordered pies for "particular" eaters, you'll relate. Our hero has the advantage of a love of fractions and a body that is actually a pie chart, which comes in handy when a slice goes missing. Mom and Dad help out by splitting one, though Charlie's sleuthing eventually leads to the culprit. SECRET CODERS By Gene Luen Yang. Illustrated by Mike Holmes. 91 pp. First Second. Paper. $9.99. (Graphic novel; ages 8 and up) Not until the end of this ingenious book does Yang ("Boxers" and "Saints") show his hand: "They're just lists of instructions, nothing more," we learn of computer programs. By then our basketball-loving heroes - a girl, Hopper, and a boy, Eni - have used basic coding principles to crack a mystery involving four-eyed birds and a creepy school janitor. The next installment can't come soon enough. ONLINE An expanded visual presentation at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 23, 2015]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Pizza night provides ample chances for the eponymous character-who has a pie chart for a body-to use fractions. With five family members and Charlie's friend Lewis visiting, there are six diners: "Everyone agreed on the size: Large! That meant everyone would get 2 slices." Picking a topping presents another challenge (" `Yuck, no veggies!' yelled 4/6 of the pizza eaters"). When it's time to eat, one of the slices is missing, and Charlie gets to play detective. Using pizza to teach fractions may not be new, but a lighthearted tone ("Anchovies are tiny little fish, and why anyone would want them on their pizza is a mystery that may never be solved"), and newcomer Comstock's playful graphics, which have a weathered, retro quality, make the lesson go down as easy as pie. Ages 4-8. Agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-There are worse ways to ingest the study of fractions than by reading a book about pizza, which must have been the thinking behind this extremely slight mystery. Fractions are interjected into the text at every opportunity, as when Charlie invites 1/4 of his friends for dinner, which must be shared with his five family members. The small crisis when 1/12 of the pie goes missing is resolved when Charlie's improbably magnanimous parents content themselves with 1 1/2 slices apiece. The retro-spectrum digital illustrations are serviceable, just like the math lesson. VERDICT Less peppy than pepperoni.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Pizza night at Charlie's house goes awry when a slice vanishes into thin air. Charlie, who's pictured with a pie-chart torso, plays detective, using deductive reasoning and fractions to narrow down his suspect list. Written with numerals and presented graphically, fractions fit quite neatly into the playful mystery. Retro, mid-century-styled illustrations feature clues and math concepts. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Pizza night brings a mystery, and plenty of math, to the Piechart household.Charlie's family of five is joined by his friend Lewis, which means that if they order a large pizza, each of them will get two slices. But can they agree on toppings? Four-sixths want nothing to do with veggies, and no one wants anchovies. Pepperoni it is. But between the pizza's arrival and its serving, one piece has gone missing. Charlie goes into full detective mode (his dog is even named Watson!) and hunts for clues, then turns to his five suspectsthough maybe he should include one more. Comstock and Sadler give readers plenty of exposure to fractions in both written and pie-chart form: fittingly, Charlie's body is a round pie chart that changes to reflect the math around him. The authors find sneaky ways to seamlessly add more and more fractions to the tale while at the same time upping the humor: Charlie has his sisters do the burp test to see if they are guilty. Debut illustrator Comstock's digital artwork is a retro-modern throwback, from the red, white, mustard, and turquoise palette to the asterisk designs on the plates and the furniture shapes.Kids will have fun following Charlie as he solves the mystery and reinforce their fraction skills along the way. (Math picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
