Rock It, Sock It, Number Line

by Bill Martin Jr., Michael Sampson

A fabulous new counting book from Bill Martin, Jr.

Rock it, Sock it,
Number Line!
Numbers and Veggies,
Party Time!

1 rockets
through the sky,
and parachutes down
with a pumpkin pie.

The numbers are having a party in the vegetable garden! Bouncy rhymes and bold, bright art make for a lively and delicious introduction to counting. In Rock It, Sock It, Number Line , acclaimed author and language specialist Bill Martin, Jr. does for numbers what he did for the alphabet in his classic Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

Genres: Picture Books, Counting, Number, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2001

About the author

Bill Martin, Jr. (1916-2004) was an elementary-school principal, teacher, writer, and poet. His more than 300 books, among them the bestselling classics Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See ; Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear ; Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See ; and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom , are a testament to his ability to speak directly to children. Martin held a doctoral degree in early childhood education. Born in Kansas, he worked as an elementary-school principal in Chicago before moving to New York City, where he worked in publishing, developing innovative reading programs for schools. After several years, he devoted himself full-time to writing his children's books. He lived in New York until 1993, when he moved to Texas. He lived in the east Texas woods, near the town of Commerce, until he passed away in 2004.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/billma...

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book features an odd combination of dancing vegetables and cartoon Arabic numerals, set against a vegetable garden backdrop. Although the digitally produced illustrations are brightly colored, some of them are cluttered. More problematic is the disconnect between the illustrations and the counting concepts: for example, the cartoon numeral “2” is shown commiserating with *three* small rabbits, while the numeral “5” is shown dancing with three, not five, broccoli stems. These illustrations fail to support counting skills and will probably confuse young readers. Although the rhyming text is catchy, there is no overarching narrative here, and the chorus only appears twice—-no real pattern or repetition. This book does, indeed, introduce the Arabic numerals, but manages to do so without ever really attaching them to the counting/numeric concepts they represent. Martin's other counting books, such as Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, are a better alternative.

CIP: “Introduces the numbers one through ten as vegetables and numbers dance together at the king’s and queen’s garden party before jumping into the soup to be eaten by a crowned boy and girl.”

Mixed reviews from SLJ and Hornbook, which note the catchy rhymes but also some of the book’s shortcomings.

[Aaron Lattu]

Book Title: Rock It, Sock It, Number Line
Author/Illustrator: Bill Martin Jr., Michael Sampson/Heather Cahoon
Reading Level: 2.0
Book Level: K-2
Book Summary:

Bookshelf Genre: Picture Books

This is a fun book that will help young learners to count to ten. The characters in the book are animals or vegetables and are all associated with a number. This would be a great read for those learning how to count. I struggled to figure out why the vegetables and other characters were associated with the numbers that they were but it was still a fun read.

This book showed a very good voice. As I was reading it I could hear myself building momentum in my head and anticipating the next character and number we would meet. This book should keep young readers interested and help them order the first ten numbers in counting.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin Quest #38
Another counting book from Bill - some colour and excitement I guess but a pretty average book.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice counting book.

[Katie Jelinek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduces the numbers one through ten as vegetables and numbers dance together at the king’s and queen’s garden party before jumping into the soup to be eaten by a crowned boy and girl. A great book to use for teaching various vegetables and basic counting.

[Bethe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bookaday #32. Odd little book, thought it would be about a number line, but that reference in the title is more like a bad rhyme to go with dancing time. Might confuse readers since the pages don't show that number of items. A bit of a mess.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Used for Movement WTBI. Would be better for a vegtable program.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the way the words flowed from page to page and the rhyming of it all. We had fun reading this one

[Kelci Cox-Griswold · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't think this book was that great, but it woul be good to teach kids about numbers. It counts up to ten and then backwards from ten.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute! My kids like singing the words "rock it, sock it!" It challenged my oldest little reader as it had words he was not used to. He enjoyed it, and I liked that he enjoyed it so.