Rabbit and Hare Divide an Apple

by Harriet Ziefert, Emily Bolam (Illustrator)

One day Hare tries to divide an apple in half so he and Rabbit can share it. But he breaks it unevenly. They both want the bigger piece. Will they ever find a way to share the apple?

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, 1st Grade, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Harriet Ziefert grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she attended the local schools. She graduated from Smith College, then received a Masters degree in Education from New York University.

For many years, Ziefert was an elementary school teacher. She taught most grades from kindergarten to fifth grade. "I liked it," she said, but she stopped teaching when she had her own sons. When her children were older, Ziefert wanted "a bigger arena" for her work. She went to work at a publishing company, Scholastic in New York City, developing materials for teacher's guides for kindergarten language arts and social studies programs.

"About twelve years ago," says Ziefert in a 1995 interview, "I tried to get a job as an editor, but no one would hire me as a trade editor. So I decided to write my own books." Since then, she has written several hundred books, mostly picture books and easy-to-read books. "I write books very quickly," she says, "in about twelve hours. I rewrite them three times over three days, and then they're done." She writes about twenty books a year.

Reviews

[Sidney McQuade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read a loud for students and teaches math as well. It has the concepts of math and sharing. These are both good and important concepts for students to be learning at a young level.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book would involve more math than it did. Essentially, hare and rabbit divide a mushroom unevenly and argue over who gets the bigger piece. A raccoon comes by and promises to help them, but ends up eating the whole thing. When rabbit and hare find an apple and divide it unevenly, they figure out how to do it and ignore the raccoon's offer of help.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read-a-loud with the math concept of "half." I had to flesh out the story a little with some extra dialogue for storytime, and assigned voices to raccoon, hare and rabbit, which is a must! The little kids really got into the story.

[Kayli · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute story featuring two friends, one apple and how they manage to split it amongst themselves. This was a great, quick read aloud that taught math and the importance of sharing. The kids enjoyed guessing how the characters would split the apple too! I gave this three out of five stars.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rabbit and Hare divide a mushroom and an apple. It's not even, so there is an argument. Raccoon walks over and tries to "help." It's a good early math book.

2021 storytime theme: Mushrooms

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cute story on beginning math using fruits. Yum, yum!

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about sharing and also math skills. It teaches children how to divide things equally.

[Amanda Hegel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really good to read to young children because it teaches them about sharing and is easy to read. It is also a good introduction to teaching division.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was nothing short of adorable! Ziefert does a great job of making fractions fun with this colorful tale of two friends trying to evenly split their food. After reading this book aloud, I was able to implement my own lesson with m&m's and fractions! It was great to see my students splitting their m&m's evenly! This book served as a great activating strategy.

[Chardell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is about a Rabbit and Hare that is trying to divide different foods in half, but they are having a hard time doing so. It is great for kids learning about fractions

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good early reader with a nice story.

[Emerson and Theodore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rabbit and hare get duped by raccoon when they are silly enough to fight over a mushroom. They learn their lesson though and successfully share an apple.

[Od · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it how they divided the apple.