Now What?

by Robie H. Harris, Chris Chatterton (Illustrations)

Solve a problem with Puppy and a bag full of blocks! Robie H. Harris and Chris Chatterton team up for another gentle introduction to early math concepts.

Puppy wants to build a bed out of blocks, one that is wide enough and long enough for a snooze. But there aren't enough rectangles, squares, and triangles. NOW WHAT? Build, measure, count, compare! Follow along as Puppy tries again and again and again and finally figures out how blocks of different shapes and sizes can fit together to build a bed that's just the right size for a nap.

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, Stem, Dogs, Childrens, Storytime, Counting

32 pages, Hardcover

Published May 14, 2019

About the author

Robie H. Harris has written many award-winning books for children of all ages, including the definitive Family Library about sexuality: IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL, IT'S SO AMAZING!, and IT'S NOT THE STORK! She lives in Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Vera Godley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The idea of using manipulatives so that children can more readily gain a perception of geometric shapes has been around a long time. Not necessarily given the name of manipulative, but actively used none-the-less, the simple, and long used, ABC building square blocks taught colors, letters, cause and effect, and skills in building.

The books Crash! Boom! and Now What? carry this a bit further. Differentiation and similarities of square and rectangle, long and short, number of sides, etc. is addressed.

Little ones will also enjoy watching a sleepy puppy build a bed in

Now What? Along with Puppy, they will learn geometric concepts associated with basic shapes. Rectangles, squares, and triangles, oh my!

As the puppy begins building with his blocks, he discovers that the various shapes can be combined to create the larger rectangle that becomes his bed. But he goes through the stages of increasing the size of the platform through the addition of shapes in combination. (He finds that two triangles can become one square, etc.)

The ending is cute as little puppy is quite tired and sleepy but he still has two pieces he needs to make use of and then he can rest. Fun!

Parents will love the educational value of these stories, and the delightful illustrations will make them popular with the younger crowd. These books would make a wonderful gift along with a set of different size blocks, so that kids can build along with the stories.

Disclosure: I received this book to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine and those of my daughter who is an educator. Opinions are freely given.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The extension activity potential for this is amazing.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little puppy is trying to make himself a bed out of blocks (which doesn't seem very comfortable?). He examines the various shapes of blocks in order to do so. Decent for discussing various 3D shapes, though I think having actual blocks on hand would be more effective (though I do like that it models for parents a way to talk about what kids are noticing about the various shapes)

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now What? A Math Tale by Robie H. Harris, illustrated by Chris Chatterton. PICTURE BOOK. Candlewick Press. $16. 9780763678289

BUYING ADVISORY: Pre-K, EL (K-3)- ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Now What? A Math Tale brings us a very creative way to teach children about basic shapes using wooden blocks. Puppy loves to build and loves to snooze. He wants to build a bed for snoozing. He is faced with blocks of different sizes and shapes. As he attempts to build his bed he investigates and describes each block to determine whether or not the block fits in his design. When his bed is not wide enough and he had no more rectangular or square blocks left he realizes if he arranges two triangle blocks in just the right way he can make a new rectangle block! With real photos mixed with colorful illustrations against a white background the pages are stunning and inviting!

We enjoyed the creativity Now What? A Math Tale brings to light. Using an adorable puppy to do the teaching the reader learns simple shapes in an easy and fun way. Puppy builds, measures, counts, questions, compares, estimates, experiments, predicts and solves problems using a bagful of wooden blocks. Author's note at the end of the book: "Blocks allow children of all ages to wonder, explore, play, think, create and even fail, and finally to feel the pride of success, all while discovering endless math and science concepts." Now What? A Math Tale is a great addition to any classroom or home learning environment!

Reviewer: SL
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Problem solving at its finest, if you're a puppy.

Actually that problem solving would also be excellent if you were a human reader, and five years old.

Puppy loves to build
and loves to snooze. Hmmm . . .
Could he build a bed for a snooze?

But all he had available were blocks:
- Rectangles
- Squares
- And triangles.
- NOW WHAT?

Readers witness determined problem solving. Since Puppy tries again and again and again. Until he feels "dog tired."

Yet Puppy won't give up. Eventually he finds a way to fit together blocks of different shapes and sizes. It works! Puppy arranges those blocks so they fit together to build a bed that's just the right size for a nap.

FIVE STARS. I just love this book. All the illustrations are great too, not only the text.

My favorite drawing shows Puppy, terribly frustrated. A screaming caption says, NOW WHAT?

And poor little Puppy is crying.

Fabulous picture. To me, he looks just like a baby.

As for that happy ending? Even more fabulousness!

[Julie Failla Earhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Puppy want to take a nap. Unfortuantely, he doesn’t have a bed. All he has is a bag of blocks. As he looks at their different shapes, he begins to understand their names: rectangle, square, etc. He decides that he can build a bed, but soon realizes that there aren’t enough of each shape to make a bed for napping. As he begins to maneuver the blocks, he soon deduces that he can make a bed using the shapes he has.

Althouth he has Bear by his side, Bear isn’t very helpful and there is no real need for him in the story.

A gentle way to introduce early math concepts to little ones. “Now What? A Math Tale” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was all going so well until Puppy found a rectangle block for the headboard. Earlier in the book it explicitly said there wasn't another rectangle.

The tone is very eager puppy-ish.

It's nice to see the relationships between the different blocks.
Pretty sure the first definition for rectangle prevents a square from being a rectangle. They correct that later, which is a bit confusing.

Also, they talk about square on top, square on bottom, but they seem to ignore that these are 3D shapes, so the sides aren't squares? A square block is a square prism, not a cube. Same goes for the triangles.

[Mrs. Melaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An adorable sleepy puppy narrates as it attempts to construct a bed to use for naptime using a set of wooden blocks. In the process, basic knowledge about math shapes is painlessly conveyed. In places, the text does get a little clunky in order to fully communicate the concepts, “Whoa! A rectangle has 1. 2. 3. 4 straight lines. And 1. 2. 3. 4 corners. Oh. This is a rectangle that’s square!” Despite that drawback, it could be a fun read-aloud, especially if the reader brought along a set of blocks that children could use to construct the “bed” along with the puppy.

[Aolund]

An attractive accompaniment to Harris and Chatterton's first "math tale," Crash, Boom! In Now What? the same puppy as in Crash, Boom! undertakes the project of building a bed for itself out of blocks. Definitely best for one-on-one reading or perhaps a sensory storytime where kids could play with blocks while the story is being read, as the book is full of calls to Look! and Count! along with the puppy. Perfectly repetitive for a young audience, though dull for an older one.

Themes: Math, Shapes
Age range: 2-5

[Gabrielle Stoller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, I am also using this early math and shape concept book in ECRTR. I would agree with other reviewers in that it is more of a shape book than it is a math book. However, sleepy puppy works on figuring out how to make a bed out of blocks. And there are limited numbers of rectangles, triangles, squares, etc.

The problem solving in this book is also great. Not many books include this, computational thinking really, anymore. It inspires me and reminds me that STEM is indeed approachable in storytime settings.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title states, this is a math story and it is perfect for Pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten students as they are being introduced to 3-dimensional shapes. It would be perfect to give each student a set of shapes that are needed for this book and give them time to do what the dog is doing in the book and see if they can figure out how to make a bed for the dog. Can't wait to share this book with my teachers and students.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Age: Preschool
Concept Skill: Shapes
STEM: Math, Engineering (building with blocks)

Everything was going great until they started calling the square block a rectangle that's square. A delightful concept that was mired by poor wording. If the reader rephrases this, the book excels at introducing a more advanced introduction to three shapes: rectangle, square, and triangle.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A puppy finds a bag of blocks and uses them to construct a bed. The illustrations of the adorable puppy's attempts do not match the text in complexity or tone. This will be a useful picture book to reinforce a number of simple math concepts, but may be harder for young readers to understand independently.

[Mallie Williams]

-This book is all about a dog who uses blocks to make a bed for himself. It demonstrates skills in a fun way that kids will enjoy!
-This is not my favorite just because I enjoy the sweeter ones not centered all around math. I do think this is a cute book though and one I could use in my class if I was teaching my students math.

[Abby Johnson]

This super cute concept book looks at shapes as a small puppy tries to build a bed out of blocks and figures out how different shapes fit together. This would be great for sharing with young children and pairing with block play or a lesson on shapes.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one didn't work for me the way the author's Crash! Boom! did. The text seemed to over-explain the illustrations, and in some ways they didn't match up very well. It felt like the concept got away from the author.

[Tracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute little pup uses blocks to explore math concepts.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A puppy figues out how to build a bed out of blocks of different shapes.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book to introduce shapes and geometry! A box of blocks and this book would make for a really fun (and even educational) afternoon.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. I think the concepts would be easier to understand if they were explained better.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love math but not the way this book explains it. Perhaps it should have been called shapes? No counting sticker on this book!

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A puppy tries to construct a bed big enough for him, first using rectangular blocks (some square, some not). When he runs out of rectangles, he uses triangular blocks.

[CCPL Buzz]

MT

[Colorado Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book to introduce shapes and how many sides they have. he's trying to make himself a bed with the building blocks.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for this math-terpiece

[Miss Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dog tries to make himself a bed out of blocks and learns about shapes. Elementary and up

[Angela De Groot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puppy builds himself a bed to nap on from an assortment of shaped blocks.

[The Book Box]

Mama read this to my class at school.

[Miss Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hid this one so I didn't have to read it again.

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, a young dog wants to build a bed with blocks. Kids can explore basic geometry and shapes as they follow along the dog's bed building journey.