SUMMARY: Annie likes to add things wherever she goes including buttons, apples, butterflies and knees.
ILLUSTRATIONS: The illustrations are very colorful and enthusiastic creating an upbeat feel to the book.
THE GOOD: This is a level C beginning reader created for children to find success while reading by themselves. The language is simple and limited. There are also simple math equations such as 1+2=3 along the way so children are introduced to both reading and math. This book was written by a 5th grade student and children will be able to relate to his thoughts. There is a list of 30 vocabulary words at the back of the book for further practice. THE NOT AS GOOD: The storyline does not have a very high interest level. Annie merely goes around counting things. Sometimes there is rhyming and other times not. At times, the items she is counting are not grouped well making it difficult to understand how she created the equation, For instance: When she counts knees her equation is 3+3=6, but there three friends with two knees each. For her cookies, there are 7 on the plate ande equation is 5+2=7. But there is no visual split to the cookies so the reader has to imagine it. This is a higher level math concept some readers may not be ready for.
AGE RECOMMENDATION: Pre-k to 1st grade depending on your child's reading level.
Frank has shown a lot of interest in addition, so I thought he'd like this book, and he did. Most of the time when we do addition, it's verbal, so I like the idea of him seeing the equations and becoming familiar with what the math looks like.
This book is pretty awesome, especially considering the author was only in the fifth grade when he wrote this. Short easy sentences, a fun simple math lesson, and cute illustrations. We really liked this book.