Mammoth math (with a little help from some elephant shrews)

Gr 2--6--Macaulay lays out spread after spread of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, yes, but also Fibonacci sequence, scaling, Venn diagrams, Pascal's triangle, telling time, magic shapes, rounding, estimates, data handling, codes, using a compass, and more. To describe it is to diminish it. The book must be entered, pored over, absorbed, shared, flipped through, and experienced. It's madness: the cast of shrews is in the thousands. It's brilliant: Macaulay gives children true life skills for estimating that will have them doing their taxes in no time. And it's funny: if the goal is first to entertain, any browser will be quickly hooked. Most of the information in the volume is instantly digestible and absolutely unforgettable, and that's saying something. Back matter includes for reference multiplication grids and tables, fractions, decimals and percentages, units of measurements, geometric shapes and angles, glossary, index, mammoth on the moon, signs and symbols, solutions to problems in the text, exhausted shrews, and a space alien. VERDICT Both classic and forward-looking, perfect for browsing and research, this exhaustive guide to the realm of number-based thinking and fact-gathering could not be any clearer, any more welcome, and any more more.--Kimberly Olson Fakih