Mathemagic by Raymond Blum; Jeff SinclairReview by: David J. WhitinThe Arithmetic Teacher, Vol. 41, No. 1 (SEPTEMBER 1993), p. 48Published by: National Council of Teachers of MathematicsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41195889 .

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term "sum," however, to designate any compu- tational problem jars the reader and is contrary to North American usage.

At $80 for just over 150 pages of useful material, this series is likely beyond the re- sources of most individual teachers, although it would be a useful addition to a central curricu- lum collection. - Thomas О 'Shea.

For Students Houses and Homes, Ann Morris, photos by Ken Heyman. 1992, 32 pp., $14 cloth. ISBN 0-688-10168-2. Lothrop, Lee aShepard Books, 1350 Avenue of the America , New York, NY 10019.

Through a series of crisp color photographs by Ken Heyman, readers are introduced to a wide variety of houses throughout the world and to a discussion of features that make them homes. The simple text classifies these houses in differ- ent ways, such as big houses (Buckingham Pal- ace) and little houses (a tent for Gypsies in India); houses that move (working houseboats in India) and houses that stay (an American subur- ban house); row houses (some connected stone houses in England) and single houses (an iso- lated farmhouse in Colombia). The author also classifies houses by such materials as wood, stone, mud, and straw, and by such construction techniques as weaving, nailing, and tying to- gether with ropes. A strength of the book is that additional information at the end gives the loca- tion of these houses as well as other details that deepen our understanding of the people and their culture. For instance, Italian stone houses last for hundreds of years and many generations of the same family grow up in them; house building in Kenya is a community activity; and the front porch of an Appalachian house in the United States is a favorite gathering place for the family. The author also discusses the function of various building materials: the thick mud bricks of houses in Nigeria help to keep out the hot sun and burning desert wind; and in Guatemala walls made of narrow stakes tied together let in cool air but keep out the rain. In this way, readers come to view the shape of houses from a cultura) perspective« They see that architectural shapes reflect the climate, terrain, customs, and type of building materials that are available to given people. Teachers might also enjoy sharing with their students The Village of Round and Square Houses by Ann Grifalconi (Boston: LittleBrown, 1986) as a way to extend this discussion on the cultural significance of shape. - David J. Whitin.

June 29, 1 999, David Wiesner. 1992, 29 pp., $15.95 cloth. ISBN 0-395-59762-5. Clarion Boob, 215 Park Ave., S., New York, NY 10003.

While the rest of her third-grade classmates sprout seedlings in paper cups, Holly Evans plans a more innovative science experiment. Using helium weather balloons and cardboard boxes, she launches groups of seedlings into the sky. She intends to study the effects of extra- terrestrial conditions on vegetable growth and development. She expects the seedlings to stay aloft for several weeks in the ionosphere before returning to earth. Her classmates are speechless as she describes her unique experiments. How- ever, the whole country becomes speechless as some strange things begin to happen. In sur- realistic fashion, gigantic vegetables descend on the earth; massive clouds of cauliflower hover over a local diner, and huge red peppers float along the coast. The author has fun with lan- guage and places as he describes "parsnips pass by Providence," "artichokes advance on An- chorage," and "lima beans loom over Levittown." We see tugboats pushing peas down the Missis- sippi and a truck hauling a massive vegetable through the streets of New York City, recently renamed the Big Rutabaga. Holly did not grow many of these vegetables, and she soon realizes that these giant specimens are not the results of her experiment. (We do learn at the end about the extraterrestrial accident that caused all this con- fusion!)

This story of the fantastic and improbable might lead readers in various directions. Some readers might tie this story to other ones that involve this concept of proportionality, such as the adventures of Gulliver's travels or the voy- age of James in James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (New York: Knopf, 1961). School- children might collect a set of stories that incor- porate the concept of proportionality and discuss how artists represent this kind of perspective. Others might turn to the Guinness Book of World Records and gather data on the world's largest fruits and vegetables. Still others may want to grow some of their own vegetables under differ- ent conditions. This is clearly a story that readers will return to time and time again. - David J. Whitin.

Mathemagic, Raymond Blum, illUs. by Jeff Sinclair. 1992, 128 pp., $12.95 cloth. ISBN 0- 8069-8354-X. Sterling Publishing Co , 387 Park Ave., S., 5th FL, New York, NY 10016-8810.

This book is filled with a wide variety of math- ematical tricks. It begins with "calculator ca- pers" that involve guessing a person's favorite number or determining the year in which some- one was born. The author includes some card tricks, as well as some mind-reading games that allow one to predict correctly the answer to a subtraction problem or to add five three-digit numbers in just a few seconds. Included are such play-on-words tricks as convincing parents to buy some pigs and deer so they can turn a small investment into ten sows and bucks (10 000

bucks)! Headers encounter familiar tricks, too, such as the impossibility of try ing to cut a Mobius strip into two separate loops or having your parents, in lieu of an allowance, sign a contract to pay 1 0 the first day of the month, double that to 20 the second day of the month, and double the amount again each day for thirty days (you will receive over 5 million dollars over time). Some tricks involve using odd and even numbers to predict a sum of five or more numbers, and other guessing games use dice, coins, and the calendar. The book contains such a wide range of tricks that most students in grades 3-7 would find some piece of this magic appealing. The one disadvantage of the book is that it does not explain how many of these tricks work. - David J. Whitin.

Nine OXIock Lullaby, Marilyn Singer, illus. by Frane Lessac 1991, 29 pp., $14.89 cloth ISBN 0-06-0256484. HarperCollins Children 's Books. 10 Ε 53d St.. New York, NY 10022.

The rhythmic lullaby of the author's words and the illustrator' s bright pictures transport the reader through different time zones and distant lands. The book begins with Mama reading a sleepy- time tale at 9:00 p.m. in Brooklyn, New York. However, with each turn of the page, readers realize that 9:00 p.m. in Brooklyn is really mid- night on the Atlantic Ocean, 2:00 a.m. in En- gland, 3:00 p.m. in Samoa, and so on, until the story finds its way back to 9:00 p.m. in Brooklyn once again. As readers are transported across these various time zones, they are introduced to different aspects of the cultures they meet. For instance, they learn about sweet rice, fruity ice, and coconut candy in Puerto Rico; they see women gathering water at the well in India; and people weaving and fishing off the island of Samoa. As one views the illustrations across these cultures, one feels the universal nature of all people as they perform their own celebra- tions, eat their own special food, and enjoy their leisure time in happy ways. This book would serve as a good introduction to the concept of time and help young schoolchildren begin to understand the nature of time zones. Teachers might use this book in conjunction with Mitsumasa Anno' s All in a Day (New York: Philomel Books, 1986) as starting points for discussing the earth's rotation and the meaning behind the occurrence of day and night. - David J. Whitin.

Numbers at May: A Counting Book, Charles Sullivan. 1992, 40 pp., $15.95 cloth. ISBN 0-8478-1501-3. Rizzoli International Publications, 300 Park Ave., S., New York, NY 10160-0771.

This counting book combines poetry, fine art, and photography to depict the numerals from 1 to

48 ARITHMETIC TEACHER

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