 This two-fer designed to illustrate math concepts for viewers ages 3-7 through fanciful stories both feature narration by Dave Calabrese. Written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Will Hillenbrand, the iconographic-animated adaptation of the 1997 picture book Counting Crocodiles follows a crafty monkey who tires of the lemon trees on his island and decides to swindle a group of sea-dwelling crocodiles into helping him reach a nearby atoll full of bananas. Helpfully offering to count the crocs, the monkey sneakily rhymes its way across the backs of one-through-ten croc groups (six crocs with pink Mohawks; ten crocs dressed like Goldilocks, etc.), returning with a bunch of the desired fruit. In the iconographic-animated Monster Math , based on the 1999 picture book by author Anne Miranda and illustrator Polly Powell, viewers join the birthday celebration of ¡°one little monster (who) is looking at you¡± and her purple octopus-like mother (who wears cat¡¯s eye glasses) as fellow monsters show up for the festivities¡one by one up to 10, and then break off in groups for activities including bouncing, screaming, racing, and a Twister-like game. Concepts of subtraction are introduced as the weary mother eventually starts to kick guests out. Culminating with a review segment, this math-themed double-feature serves up exponential fun. Recommended. THE VIDEO LIBRARIAN, APRIL 2009 |