About the Author

Dayle Ann Dodds is a former elementary school teacher with a degree in early childhood development. As she does in THE GREAT DIVIDE, Dayle Ann Dodds often writes in rhyme because "it is so natural to kids' ears. Rhyme, rhythm, and pattern help kids remember small revelations in entertaining stories," she says. Embedded in the exciting contest of THE GREAT DIVIDE, readers will find grouping, adding, subtracting, and multiplying, and discover how they form the foundation of division. Dayle Ann Dodds lives in Palo Alto, California.

Tracy Mitchell was born in Boston but grew up in New Orleans, a city whose influence is evident in her art style. THE GREAT DIVIDE is Tracy Mitchell's first picture book, and she says that working with such a large number of characters was just one of the many challenges she faced in creating her paintings for the book. "Dividing the racers into crazy groups, like clowns, pirates, and dancers, definitely helped," she says. Tracy Mitchell lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Reviews

"In this crafty story of a cross-country race called 'The Great Divide,' numerical division accounts for the narrowing of the field." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"The pace is so breathless and engaging that the book’s didactic origins all but disappear; few readers will notice that they’ve just finished a math problem, and most will want to go over all the action again." —Kirkus Reviews

Gr 1-4-This rhyming tale of a great race demonstrates the basic principle of division. Eighty contestants start out on bikes; they come to a fork in the path and half blunder left, where their tires pop. The other 40 keep going by boat, until they reach a whirlpool where half of them are again knocked out of the race. This continues until only five contestants are left, and Dodds sneaks past this tricky problem by having one contestant stop with a rock in her shoe while the other four move on, only to be thwarted. In a surprise ending, the fifth contestant sneaks back in to win the race. Though the plot is minimal, the story does an effective job of getting the concept across in a fun way. The illustrations, done in acrylics over modeling paste, are bold enough to keep pace with the action. A variety of faces and costumes appear among the contestants, from old ladies to clowns to cowboys and sailors. Elinor Pinczes's One Hundred Hungry Ants (Houghton, 1993) offers a similar concept in a more engaging story, but the pictures here are certainly appealing. With the current demand for math-related picture books, this is a natural addition for libraries.-Kathleen M. Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, Eldersburg, MD Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.