It’s Kangaroo’s birthday, but no one will play with him: not the emu, the platypuses, the koalas, or even the dingos. They all have too many things to do. What exactly are they doing? They’re using multiplication to figure out just how many things they have to do to plan a big surprise for Kangaroo!

Best Children’s Science Books 1997 (Science Books and Films)

The bugs in Coach Caterpillar's gym class are learning a new dance. But Centipede can't do it! If he can't learn the directions left, right, forward, and backward, this class will be one big FLOP!

This busy family needs a vacation, but they don’t know where to go. Mom and Dad want peace and quiet. Grandma wants to go somewhere hot. Fluffer wants to go somewhere that pets can go, too! The pig-tailed narrator gathers all this data and makes a chart to help determine the perfect vacation destination. Learning math is fun when a vacation is the answer!

Four kids and their sidekick, Petey the parrot, run a sometimes thriving lemonade stand whose patrons include all kinds of wacky neighbors—even a juggler. They create a bar graph to track the rise and fall of their lemonade sales. Illustrator Tricia Tusa has imbued the story with her delightful sense of humor and has made understanding bar graphs a breeze.

How many different ice-cream sundaes can you make? With 6 ingredients to choose from, there are so many combinations. Read all about the sundaes they're making at the school picnic. Math has never been so delicious!

It's About Time. . .

. . . to wake up.

. . . to learn, to play, to read.

. . . to cuddle up in the blankets and to dream.

A twenty-four -- hour day is full of great things to do! Endearing illustrations depicting things kids do every day make this an easy introduction to the skill of telling time, perfect for very young readers.

Blue Ribbon Blueberry Pie. If the bear cubs gather enough nuts, seeds and blueberries, Mama Bear has agreed to make her special, lip-smacking-good pie.

Each time they fill their baskets, the cubs count berries, seeds and nuts by putting them in groups of tens and ones to see if they have enough for pie.

Everyday activities such as sharing a meal, sorting socks and getting ready for school can be part of learning math. In the MathStart Series,  everyday life is the basis for each entertaining story. Simple math concepts are embedded in each story so that young children can intuitively understand them. Adults can use the creative suggestions for activities in the back of each book to extend learning opportunities with children.

Developmentally appropriate and correlated to school grade levels and the curriculum standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, MathStart  can give children a head start!Blue Ribbon Blueberry Pie is the best—but do these bear cubs have enough ingredients to bake one? Regrouping their berries, nuts, and seeds by tens and ones reveals that one cub has not done her fair bear share. John Speirs's irresistible bear cubs make this lesson in regrouping one children will enjoy.

Blue Ribbon Blueberry Pie is the best—but do these bear cubs have enough ingredients to bake one? Regrouping their berries, nuts, and seeds by tens and ones reveals that one cub has not done her fair bear share. John Speirs's irresistible bear cubs make this lesson in regrouping one children will enjoy.

Scream down the Dare-Devil Coaster and whirl around in the Twin Spin cars! Join in the carnival fun as 11 friends divide up to fit on the 2-to-a-seat roller coaster and the 4-to-a-cup teacups ride. Making new friends and practicing predivision skills have never been so exciting!

Splitting things in half may seem like an easy thing to do, but when two siblings and a pizza are involved, things can get messy. Children learn about fractions at school but fractions are also an important part of everyday life outside the classroom.In this riotous book, Stuart J. Murphy and G. Brian Karas introduce the simplest of fractions, 1/2.

The bugs are on parade. One is big, the next is bigger, and the next is the biggest bug of all. Learning how to compare and contrast sizes is an important early math skill and one of the most basic forms of mathematical reasoning. In The Best Bug Parade children are introduced to this concept by some goofy-looking bugs who form a parade. Author Stuart J. Murphy and illustrator Holly Keller have made comparing sizes an enjoyable activity for the very youngest math student.

Does a polka-dotted sock match a striped sock? Young children will learn about matching, an important early math skill, as a lonely striped sock searches the house for its mate. They will may even be inspired to practice this skill in their own sock drawers!

Best Children's Science Books 1997 (Science Books and Films)

Is your age more than 5? Is it less than 10?

Eddie's got to guess. And he doesn't want to be wrong!

Eddie has a booth at the school fair, guessing people's ages. He hasn't guessed wrong yet, but if he does, he gets dunked. Can Eddie keep guessing right -- and keep from getting wet?

Comparing whole numbers and understanding what's more and what's less are a big part of Eddie's strategy, and an important math skill for young readers to learn.

Shopping, counting, and a birthday present all add up to a surprise ending on Mall Mania Day! A lighthearted look at addition strategies

Elephants, rabbits, and birds shop in this funny grocery store. Can you guess what the little rabbit wants more of? Munchy, crunchy carrots, of course! And fewer of? Squirmy worms and chewy peanuts (yuck!). So why is his mother buying all those cans of worms?

Missing Mittens

Every animal on Farmer Bill's farm is missing one mitten. Readers can investigate odd and even numbers as they unravel this mitten mystery!

Ride along with trucker Jill and her dog as they add up the animals zooming by. But these are no ordinary animals, and they're bound for a surprise destination!

Jack stacks up blocks high. Two make a robot, five make a boat, and fifteen make...whatever you can imagine! Math becomes child's play as young readers are introduced to the skill of counting on, a first step toward mastering addition.

Follow along and count coins with Jessie and her friends as they are transformed into a clown, a monster, and more at the face painting booth. With a naughty cat underfoot and festive illustrations by Lynne Cravath, this coin counting story is sure to be a favorite.

Zoe zips and zooms around the gym. She's on and off the mats, over and under the bar! She's the greatest--in gymnastics and at demonstrating opposites.

Monkeys ride in 2s, tumble by 3s, and march in 4s -- and readers can count them up as the parade goes by!

It's hard work, taking care of 5 little ducks. But when each little duck comes home with a friend -- oh, no! Now it's double the ducks and double the work. How can 1 little boy get everything done?

Understanding how to double numbers helps children master both addition and multiplication. Fun, friendship, and lots of ducks make learning this essential skill both easy and entertaining.

Welcome to neighborhood dog show! First Maxie speaks. Second Baxter begs. Third Daisy rolls over, but will Henry the fourth steal the show? Learning ordinals with this pack of playful pooches will have readers sitting up and begging for more.

Poor tiny Birdie has no house. But Birdie does have friends.

Spike, Queenie, Goldie, and Fidget want to help Birdie find a house of his own. Birdie needs a house that isn't too tall and isn't too thin, that isn't too short and isn't too fat, and that isn't too wide and isn't too narrow. Will they find a house for Birdie before the rain falls and the wind blows?

A sweet and simple story about helping out a friend explains the math concept of capacity -- what will fit in a container of a particular shape and size.

The O'Malleys are off to the beach! But it's a long, hot, boring drive. What can Eric, Bridget, and Nell do to keep busy? Play tally games, of course -- counting up all the gray cars or green T-shirts they see. Whoever has the most marks at the end wins the game.

Eric wins the first game. Bridget wins the second. It seems like poor Nell will never win a game! But Nell has the luck of the Irish on her side, and a surprise in store for her big brother and sister.

One Saturday at the beach, Laura, Juan, and Sarah decide to have a sand castle contest. As the tide rises, the walls get longer, the towers get taller, and the moats get deeper. The friends measure their sand castles with spoons, shovels, and bare feet until Larry the lifeguard and his tape measure surprise them all.