Sort it Out!

by Barbara Mariconda, Barbara Mariconda

Children's Choice Award-finalist
Packy the Packrat's mother has had enough! It s time that he sorts through his ever-growing collection of trinkets and puts them away. Told in rhyme, the text leads the reader to participate in the sorting process by categorizing Packy's piles of things according to like characteristics and attributes. The reader response is worked into the rhyme, building a sense of anticipation. The illustrations include a humorous subplot about Packy s sister, who enjoys pilfering some of his things for her own enjoyment. Children will relate to the idea of having a collection of favorite objects and the satisfaction that comes from examining and admiring these collectibles. The story promotes and reinforces analogous thinking a critical thinking skill in math, science, and life. In the supplemental activity section at the back of the book, the reader can explore even more attributes and characteristics of objects, including color, size, texture, shape, and material. Lexile code: NP.

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, Childrens, Science, Spanish Literature, School, Counting

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2008

Reviews

[Riana (RianaInTheStacks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to learn about sorting and how things can be grouped in different ways based on different criteria. Also uses rhyming and has suggested activities and information at the end. I love mice stories and the overall story was cute, though the illustrations were a little off for me. They still illustrated the point well enough though. There’s also cute little things the kids can notice on each page.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teachers like it for the demonstration of "sorting." Kids like it for the pictures.

And I like it well enough. Just don't love it because it seems just a little bit forced. Just a little.

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

What kid isn't a pack rat? I know that I have to sneak toys that my kids don't play with out of the house because if they see me putting them in a bag to leave they suddenly will want to play with it again. So I thought this book would be perfect for my four little monkeys. "Sort it Out!" by Barbara Mariconda was published in 2008. Packy the Packrat's mom had enough. she wants him to sort through his things and start getting rid of his things.



So the illustrations by Sherry Rogers are amazing throughout the book. The mouses fur looks so soft that my kids kept trying to touch it. The illustrations are colorful and really draw little eyes attention to and learn how to clean and sort their things. At least that is the hope from me. This book is really sweet with it rhyming that wasn't forced. It really felt like my kids really understood what the book was about.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

May or may not use the middle of the book to see if the kids can figure out Packy's sorting criteria.

I do really like what Mariconda says in her author info: "sorting and categorizing, recognized as a math and science skill, also powerfully relates to writing. In order to write in an organized fashion, to group like details with broader main ideas, to recognize the ways in which main ideas of writing may overlap and therefore encourage redundancy, it all comes down to the writer's ability to think critically and sort things out."

[Ndikumana Rasheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was amazing in that their great activities that goes with it and you can have a class or small group sort the things to see if they come up with anything like Packy. It is a great and fun book that teaches great lessons on sorting and how you can.
sort so many ways. Children need to learn that there are several ways to do things.

[Library Lady Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Packy collects things and can find all kinds of different ways to sort them. Unlike most other "collecting" books Packy's things from first glance are all different but when you start thinking about their attributes you can see how they are connected.

[Christine Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Countdown to Kindergarten: Sorting

This was too difficult for my class though I really like the concept.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for teaching organizing and sorting. My 3 and 5 year old enjoyed trying to guess how Packy was sorting his items.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort It Out! was originally published in 2008 and is now available in Spanish. This cute mouse is a bit of a pack rat and his mother insists that he sort and purge his collection. Well, Paquito does a much better job at sorting than purging. PK, K and 1st grade classes will have fun sorting Paquito's treasures using a variety of variables including: color, texture, origin, use and shape.

The rhyming on the first two pages is awkward and inconsistent. There is also a subplot of a tiny hand pilfering items from Paquito's stash. The mystery thief is revealed on the last page, but with no explanation--as if Barbara Mariconda ran out of energy.

The text and illustrations compliment each other. The text is written to encourage the reader to pause giving the audience a chance to fill in the blank with Paquito's sorting rule. This interactivity is Clasificalo's best asset. Teachers can also challenge young readers to identify details in the illustrations.

This book concludes with several ideas for activities which correlate to the story. Overall, it is a fine story to introduce a sorting unit in an early childhood classroom.

[Destiny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I liked that there is a great activity that goes with it and you can have a class or small group sort the things to see if they come up wit anything similar to Packy. It is a fun book that teaches a great lesson on sorting and how you can sort so many different ways. The next generation needs to learn that there is different ways to do thing and no on way is always right. If it was then we would go no where as a society or people. The way of thinking differently is how change is made for the better and how inventions are created. Great idea to instill in children.

[Jennifer Berg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fun rhyming book is an excellent resource to be used in classrooms during lessons on sorting. Taking what seem to be completely unrelated objects, the main character shows students how many similarities between these objects can be found, when looking at a variety of traits. This book will expose your students to an abundance of ways that objects can be grouped together, and will get your students excited to sort objects themselves!

[Kylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sort it Out is a book that follows Packy the pack rat as he sorts out the things he has taken for the day.

I loved this book. I think it combines a great use of rhyme with a simple teaching of sorting a classifying. I would use this book in my classroom when talking about similarities and differences, as well as when talking about sorting out objects. I loved that the author included some teacher idea/resources in the back. What a great book for an elementary/early childhood classroom!

[Katrina Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book to talk about classification with a child or class. A little confusing if you are trying to follow the storyline. The mother asks the child to clean up his things, and he starts sorting it, but sometimes the same thing ends up in different piles because it has more than one characteristic, so besides the hand stealing things in the background, it's hard to keep track of everything the mouse brought home.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good concept book to explain sorting and classifying things. Might use this as background for lesson in library arrangement. Illustrations of mice characters are quite precious. All in all, I was a bit surprised to learn this is a contender for the 2009 Children's Choice award, given its didactic tone. I'll give it a try with the kids.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute story about a pack rat with too much stuff and having to sort it out and clean his room and clutter. Great for working with math concepts in classroom of sorting. I would recommend it to early elementary teachers. Cute introduction to finding the similarities and differences in items and rhyming text.

[Rebecca Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to use for teaching children about categorizing and organizing. It teaches the many different ways that things can be different while still having similarities. There is also a lesson idea at the end, which is always helpful when teaching. It's a cute and educational story that would be great to use in a classroom.

[Dest · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rhyming picture book about classification with lots of puzzles and activities included. I wasn't captivated by it, but it won a Children's Choice award, and I won't argue with that. The funny thing is I thought in the end it was pretty lousy of the little mouse's mom to steal all his stuff.

[MissInformation · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book about mouse who sorts out his treasures into different categories at the end of the day. Rhymes, and includes info and activities at the end- even has "cards" that you can copy and sort into categories.

Wish the illustrations were cuter, but excellent for educational fun.

[☆Brittany☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great sorting & concept book.
Good enough that had I known about it a few years ago I would have bought it for Ethan. I think it would be a waste to buy this book now since he's almost in kindergarten & knows a lot of the stuff in the book.

[Morgan Sommers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to help children learn how to categorizing objects! I thought it was a cute story to go along with learning. The pictures in it were great! They went along with the story and I loved how they focused mainly on the object they were categorizing.

[Lynnette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. The pictures fit perfectly with what is happening and the writing is very predictable and easy to read. This is a great science book to read with children when teaching them about sorting things and rhyming words.

[Thia]

sorting guessing

[Edna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cute book explaining how a child-mouse sorts his stuff - the process and items are described in rhymes making it fun to read while teaching children how to categorize "things."

[Judy Desetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

nominee for 2010

[Tasha Sylvester · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute book that goes along great with our math lessons and has characters with traits very much like my own girls.

[Tina B · Rating 4 out of 5]

"sorting, collections, mice, vocabulary, guess the rhyme, activity section in the back"

[Hilary Mclellan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute 2X2 book this year. Would be a great book for primary teachers teaching sorting and classifying or properties of matter.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for teaching sorting by different categories! 4 years old was pushing it but she figured most of them out. Fun bold drawings.

[Julie Surface · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was a cute science book.
Tons of activities to do too.

[Alissa Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent way to have an actual bag of items to help teach the class to thing more. Kindergarten through first graders would probably enjoy this book more.