The Great Picture Book Culling: Day 9

Just two books last night - but they were good ones.

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara with art by G. Brian Karas is a book that should be in every elementary classroom - and every teacher should use it as a model for teaching. Mr. Tiffin brings three pumpkins to class - one large, one medium, one small. The kids have to guess how many seeds each will have, then they scoop them out and count them to find out. They get messy. . .Charlie - the smallest child in the class, is delighted to find that the smallest pumpkin has the most seeds. This book ties to math as the kids estimate, then count by twos, fives, and tens, science as they find out what really determines how many seeds will be in a pumpkin, and social issues too. It's just an all-around good book and one that Jo was thrilled to read.

Jo also read Olivia by Ian Falconer. Of all the Olivia books, the art in this one is my favorite. And I especially love this spread.Jo had to ask what on earth she's trying on in the bottom left corner because she's never seen pantyhose. This makes me absurdly happy - hahahahaha!

Read-a-thon total so far: 34 books