Reviews

Gr 1-4-Do Lane Smith and Jon Scieszka make a whacky team? Do four quarts equal a gallon? Do 12 inches equal a foot? Yes, yes, and yes! Their wild and crazy homage to the story problem (Viking, 1995) is well-treated here. A young girl's math teacher, Mrs. Fibonacci, tells the class that you can think of almost everything as a math problem. Thus the week begins and soon every aspect of the youngsters' lives is dominated by the story problems that gave us all nightmares at one time or another. Measurement, fractions, probability.it's all here. Things start simply but degenerate in a surreal manner nicely reflected in Lane Smith's imaginative, bizarre, eye-catching illustrations that combine drawings with collage. They are scanned iconographically as well as animated for maximum effect while Nancy Wu's high-energy narration bounces from problem to problem. Original music enhances the text. The DVD includes a humorous interview with both Smith and Scieszka lobbing comments back and forth like a high-speed tennis match. Viewers may choose to watch the story with or without read-along subtitles. The CD includes Wu's narration and the original music, as well as a track for the "Math Curse" song. This is a zany presentation that pokes gentle fun at math, while pointing out how much it impacts our daily lives.-Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.