Just Enough Carrots: A Visual Math Picture Book About Comparing for Kids (Ages 4-8)

MathStart Level 1

by Stuart J. Murphy, Frank Remkiewicz (Illustrator)

“Kids, young and old, fall in love with math when they see how real-life and effortless it becomes thanks to these books.” --Kimberly D. Mueller, Ed.D., First Grade Teacher, Ashbrook School, Lumberton NJ Just Enough Carrots  teaches kids to compare quantities. Before learning to add or subtract, kids need to master the concepts of fewer, more, and the same.  Just Enough Carrots is the perfect introduction to comparisons for pre-K and kindergarteners. Kids will love the story and the funny illustrations by Frank Remkiewicz (illustrator of the Froggy books). Parents and educators will love how the story and pictures make understanding comparisons a breeze—as well as the concrete examples of how math works. The book contains activities for adults to do with kids to extend math into their own lives.  Math skills are life skills, and the MathStart series supports success! MathStart's unique combination of stories, illustrations, and visual models helps teachers and parents in the teaching of math and provides all children with the opportunity to succeed. The math concepts taught in MathStart books conform to state and national standards. Level 1 is Pre-K–Kindergarten; Level 2 is Grades 1–3; Level 3 is Grades 2–4. The series follows math topics across grades so there is a foundational path to learning that runs through the levels. Help kids with their math skills  plus  their reading skills with the engaging and fun MathStart series!

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, Food, Animals, Nonfiction, 1st Grade

40 pages, Paperback

First published August 16, 1997

About the author

PICTURES & WORDS, STORIES & BOOKS
MathStart http://www.mathstart.net
I See I Learn http://www.iseeilearn.com

I was one of those kids who talked all the time in class. I loved telling stories. One day in the 4th Grade, my teacher said, “You tell such good stories, maybe you should try writing some of them down.” “Wow,” I thought. “She thinks my stories are good.” That’s when I started to really enjoy writing.

I was also the class artist. When I wasn’t talking,I was drawing. When I was older, I studied art at the Rhode Island School
of Design. That’s where I became interested in visual learning—how we decode and acquire information from graphs, charts, diagrams, models, illustrations and other images.

I became especially interested in educational publishing and have worked on the development of over a dozen major textbook programs, championing visual learning strategies from Pre-K through high school in every major curriculum area.

MATHSTART

The inspiration to write math stories for children was sparked by my work on a high school mathematics program. Visual learning strategies helped teens—who had been characterized as “reluctant learners’—understand difficult math concepts. Putting math in the context of stories based on their experiences made them feel more comfortable with abstract concepts. They actually became eager to apply math to real-life problems.
If this approach worked for older students, I began to wonder what might happen if younger children were introduced to math this way!

Even before children can read—or speak many words—they can interpret visual information with ease. The MathStart books use simple stories coupled with diagrams, graphs and other visual models to teach everything from probability and pattern recognition to area, capacity and negative numbers.

The Best Bug Parade, (comparing sizes) was my very first published book. It was absolutely thrilling to see my name in print! I never expected that one day there would 63 MathStart books, split over three levels for ages Pre-K to Grade 4.

Each book includes two pages of review and activities designed to help teachers and parents extend learning beyond the story, along with suggestions of related books by other authors. After all, if a child enjoys learning math through stories, then let’s have more stories!
(Pictures, Words & Math: An interview with Stuart J. Murphy )

THE MAIN STREET KIDS' CLUB: A MATHSTART MUSICAL

Now get out your dancing shoes—there is a musical based on six of the MathStart books! The Main Street Kids’ Club was workshopped at Northwestern University and adapted by Scott Ferguson, who also created the perennially popular production of Schoolhouse Rock Live!
The songs are terrific. The math is spot on. And the club motto makes my heart sing: “Math Skills are Life Skills!”

STUART J. MURPHY'S I SEE I LEARN

My latest series of books is focused on young children—Preschool and Kindergarten age.
I See I Learn books teach social, emotional, health and safety, and cognitive skills, such as how to make friends, build confidence, play safely, work together, manage emotions, and make plans. These skills are important for school readiness and for living happy, healthy, productive lives.

The stories “star” a wonderful bunch of friends who live in See-and-Learn City and attend Ready Set Pre-K. The cast includes Freda, Percy, Emma, Ajay, Camille, and Carlos. And, of course, Pickle, the green bull dog—who happens to have a soft-spot for butterflies—and Miss Cathy, their teacher.

I See I Learn stories are modeled on real-life situations and, just as in real-life, often involve more than one skill. For example, Freda Plans a Picnic is about sequencing, a cognitive skill, but the picnic itself is a social event. Percy Plays It Safe focuses on playground safety skills, but playing successfully in a group also requires self-regulation, an emotional skill.

Each book is reviewed by a tea

Reviews

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great list of activities for comparing amounts in the back of the book!

[Violet Loo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: When a bunny and his mom go to the grocery store the son starts to ask the mom why other carts have different amounts of food in them. He wants more carrots because the mom only puts a small bunch into their basket. He recognizes that other animals such as the horse have more but animals such as the elephant have less. As more food gets put into the cart the bunny compares their amount to other animals. The mom keeps re-iterating that the amount they have is "just enough" for them.

Theme: The theme of this book is simple mathematics and also being happy with what you have regardless of comparison.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Personal Response: I loved this book when I was little and re-reading it made me realize how much it could help a child understand basic math concepts of comparison. I also love the greater message that this book holds. It shows that if you can compare your things to other people's you may never be fully satisfied. Although this book is geared towards young children, that is a message that is still hard to understand even at my age.

Why I Recommend: I think this book would be the most successful in a young classroom such as preschool or kindergarden. It starts to help children understand the basic ideas of more, less and equal. Although young children may not understand the broader aspect of the message and theme, it can allow the reader to emphasize points on each page. With the readers help, I think a young child would love this book especially with all of the animals as characters.

[Bailie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book for young children. Creates interest for children into eating things that they may not like. If they are read to with this book they might think about eating things because everyone else is eating them.

[Katie Oflibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I'd have given this a higher rating when it came out. It's just not of the same quality as some of the truly outstanding books being published right now. I really think it's lovely for a leveled reader though. It teaches a some good, if simple, concepts and I'll use it for Storytime if I can't find something newer.

[Radha TheLibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent for starting math concepts with kids.

[Cyndi Goodgame · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun one for math skills. Kids liked it.

[A Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love that this book has a story, while also teaching children math concepts! And the visual aids are helpful.

[Bethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute story of foods and comparing how much each animal has in a shopping cart.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preschool. The math is good, but the pictures and text are a bit lacking.

[Jc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helps the younger ones understand math when going to the grocery store and buying food. Great story and illustrations.

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute and fun book for introducing the early concepts of more and less. My preschooler enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Mellanie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kindergarten enjoyed this one.

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute intro to more, the same as and less.

[Skylar Lesser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is rhymical and is a fun way to introduce students to addition and subtraction.
Lexile: N/A
DRA: 12
Traits: Sentence Fluency, Presentation

[Zach Naegele · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book a little rabbit and his mother make a trip to the store. They decide to get carrots, and the little rabbit asked for more. They compare the number of carrots they have in their cart to those in the other animal’s carts, some have fewer some have more. Then they decide to buy peanuts, the little rabbit doesn’t like peanuts, and again they make comparisons. Finally they buy worms, little rabbit hates worms, and they make comparisons again. In the end there is just enough for the little rabbit, his mother, and their guests.

[Linh Tong · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would use this book to teach students about comparing amounts. I will cut out pictures of carrots, cans of worms, and bags of peanuts. I will give each students 12 pictures with different amounts of each item. They will then sort and compare their items. Which do they have more of? Which do they have less of? They will then trade with their classmates to create piles that all have the same number of items.

[Jennifer Berg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would not recommend this book for young students. While the text does focus on comparing amounts and utilizes the familiar context of a grocery store, its lack of story-line and flow is both disengaging and confusing for readers. This story embodies too large a focus on vocabulary words and not enough focus on captivating the reader.

[Khadija Bensaadoun · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the rabbit and his mother shop for groceries, they mention the food that they have on their cart and they compare if other animals have the same/more or the same amount as they do. Great book that demonstrates how to compare items using math vocabulary. Lesson: provide students with buttons and have the students compare if they have the same, more or fewer than each other. Grades Prek-K.

[Rebecca Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book discusses the concepts of most, least, and same amounts. As I read the book to the students I would have them identify the groups that have the most and least. Then for a center they can sort various items into groups. For example I would have them make a group of eight crayons. Then I would have them to make another group that is smaller, larger, and the same.

[Sharia A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for young readers or young fans of math concepts. This book is about a bunny that goes to the grocery store with his mother. The bunny just wants to buy carrots, carrots, and more carrots. This book is great for children who are interested in going to the grocery store or community places.

[Katrina Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concepts taught:

- Comparing
* the same, more, fewer

Great book to introduce the concept and terms! The book has a chart at the bottom that illustrates the amount of carrots.

The story introduces various animals with their staple diet food
ex.) carrots and rabbits
peanuts and elephants

Students: prek-k

[David Kilgore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just Enough Carrots follows a mom and son as they shop through the market place. The son is very observant of what is in the other shoppers carts and compares how much each person has in their cart compared to what he has in his cart. This can be used as a great tool in the math classroom to help teach students inequalities.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little bunny boy in the grocery store complains about quantities of various food his mom is putting in the cart (not enough carrots, too many peanuts). They compare to what other animals are putting in their cart (more, the same, less). Turns out to be "just enough".

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for teaching children about the terms "more", "the same", and "less". It is useful because the children are able to connect these terms to their experiences going to the grocery store.

[Christina Camp · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another good book about math. This book is good for lower grades because they are fairly short. This book focused on comparing amounts. It also rhymes so it would be fun to read in the classroom.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book comparing and counting carrots to other items at the animal's grocery store. Little bunny wants more and more carrots. Soon there is enough carrots for little bunny and a few extra items for others.

Ages 3-6.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was more of a math book than a carrot book. About a mother and son rabbit shopping in the grocery store and finding they are buying more or less of certain items than other animals. Simple clear words and nice illustrations. Concepts book for preschool and up.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book to use when introduced comparative concepts to young children...really nails the idea of "fewer, same, more" through a trip to the grocery store.

[Nicole Holden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This math book is great for children learning about "more", "the same", and "less".