The Lion's Share: A Tale of Halving Cake and Eating It, Too

by Matthew McElligott

When Ant receives a special invitation to dine with Lion, she is ready to be on her best behavior. During dessert, the other guests do not mind their manners, each one taking half of the remaining cake as it is passed around. By the time it reaches Ant, barely a crumb is left for her to share with the King! She promises to make up for it by baking another cake for the King, and not to be outdone, all the other animals in turn offer to make twice as many cakes as the next. By the time the hippo speaks up, he's to bake 256 peanut butter cakes! With McElligott's signature humor and gorgeous mixed-media art, the math concepts of halving and doubling have never been so much fun.

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, Animals, Childrens, Food, Storytime, Stem

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Matthew McElligott is the author and illustrator of many books for children. When Matt is not writing, he teaches as a Professor of Graphic and Media Design at Russell Sage College in Albany. He lives on a small farm in upstate New York with his wife and their animals.

Reviews

[Gwen the Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a much better than average math story that reminds me a lot of an Aesop. Ant is invited to Lion's dinner party and is appalled at the manners and greed of the other guests. When Lions passes around a cake, each animal cuts "half" of the cake. By the time the cake gets back around the table there is none left. Ant offers to make Lion a new cake and then all the other animals try to one-up Ant by doubling the amount of cake they will make. Great illustrations with nice African color palette definitely add to the story.

[The Library Lady · Rating 2 out of 5]

Initially, I wondered what controlled substance's influence I had been under when I ordered this. But after reading the reviews here, I can see that Kirkus or someone must have liked this book.

This is obviously set-up to be a "fun math" book. And it works as such.
the artwork is striking and it will be of use in schools.

But as just a story, it doesn't get a very high grade.

[Hannah Higson · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING for teaching fractions!!!

[James Benham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that would be perfect for a fractions introduction and still ok as a class story. Pleasant story and nice bold illustrations.

[Jonathan Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book all bout halving and fractions!

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story that reinforces the concepts of halving and doubling. Can be used to introduce fractions or to practice multiplying by 2.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author of the charming Bean Thirteen returns with this book that features multiplication and division with such style that readers will have no idea they are enjoying a math book. Every year, the lion invites a group of animals to share dinner with him. This year, the ant has been invited. She arrives just on time and is alone for awhile until the others arrive: the beetle, frog, macaw, warthog, tortoise, gorilla, hippo and the elephant. At the table, all of the others showed horrible manners. Then a cake is given to the elephant and he is told to help himself. The elephant, not wanting to be too greedy, slices the cake in half and takes half for himself. After that, each animal does the same, until it reaches the ant and the piece is too small to cut in half again. So nothing is left for the lion. Trying to fix things, the ant offers to bake the lion a cake for the next day. Each animal doubles her offer, until the elephant is left at the end offering to bake 256 cakes by the next day. Things work out with mathematical precision and logically fall into place as the ant finishes the book victorious.

McElligott has created a book with a great tone and easy style. It has the feel of a folktale but many modern touches. His art is equally appropriate for a folktale but also for a modern story for children. It is a great look and feel for a picture book. McElligott has managed to make math fun, silly and delectable.

McElligott’s text is ideal for reading aloud. The animals are great fun to do with voices and the tiny ant makes a perfect protagonist, one easily related to by children. The illustrations will also work well for use with a group. Preschoolers may be young for the math, so save this one for first and second graders who will snap it up in one bite. Or maybe they will share half with a friend…

[Julie Ricenbaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great picture book and a great math lesson all in one. The lion is having a dinner party and invited all of his greedy friends. When it comes time to cut the cake, the behavior of the other animals sharing the cake takes you through a well thought out mini lesson of division. This book gives great visuals for a very difficult concept most students struggle understanding. As a little bonus The Lion's Share also teaches the importance of manners; it covers many great topics!

[Salena Palacio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book because this would be a good content book to add to a classroom library. The topics of this book are sharing and math concepts such as halving, doubling and fractions. This story is about an ant who is invited to the King Lion's dinner party. During dessert the other guests, starting with the elephant take half of the cake as it is passed around, leaving less and less for others. When the cake reaches the ant there is barely a crumb left to share with the king. The ant feels embarrassed and promises to bake a new cake for the king. The other animals promise to bake twice as many cakes as the previous one, not wanting to be outdone. This leads the number of cakes to be baked grow with the number of cakes to be baked by the hippo to 256 cakes. This story is appropriate for children ages 5 to 9 years old. I would read the story aloud and discuss the math concepts, actions of each animal and the resulting size of the cake slice. If possible I would bring in baking ingredients and have students measure out ingredients to bake a simple cake, focusing on the math involved in halving and doubling.

[Hannah Monroe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ant is honored when she gets invited to eat with the Lion and the other animals. She is so thrilled and she makes a dish to pass. When she gets to the dinner, she is unamused by the other animals' behaviors in front of the Lion. They are acting like wild animals! No one seems to be taking equal shares of the dishes everyone brought. By the time dishes get to Ant, they are only crumbs. As it turns out though, everyone is just as concerned by Ant's behaviors, and especially the fact that her cake for the Lion was so small! This book teaches about fractions and equal parts through a story.
I gave this book 4 stars. I like the idea that it teaches kids about fractions in a way they can visualize, and the story makes it something they can experience. Fractions are difficult to understand and I think this book would be a great way to introduce students to the topic!

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

I liked this book--definitely for a mid-elementary school ages and not so much my preschooler crowd with all the fractions and multiplication, though I do like how the story functions well without diving too deep into those concepts or being a book that specifically aims to teach math. It's more about manners and generosity. A lion invites all the forest animals to a feast. The other animals are impolite and take more than their share of cake. To make up for it, ant offers to make lion a cake for the following day. Then the other animals, trying to outdo each other, keep doubling the amount of cake offered. A good introductory book to how quickly doubling can add up! And good for discussing manners too.

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for teaching fractions. why does the denominator get bigger but the dessert gets smaller as they keep dividing it amongst the animals. Funny and great illustrations. Also good story about manners, greediness, and making promises you don't keep. The ant is a real friend in the end because she follows through on her promise when no one else does. The lion who shares is also a generous friend because he is willing to share all he has with his friends without getting mad, just to make them happy. In the end, the lion finds out who his friend really is. Good math story for teaching fractions and multiplication and adding.

[BrookesEducationLibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brilliant math's story about halving and doubling, it is told in such a fun way that you don't really realise that you're doing maths until you're already in the middle of working it out yourself!

A lion invites a group of animals to a special dinner party, the other animals are so greedy he doesn't manage to get a share of his cake at all so the other animals offer to make him cakes, each doubling their portions in an effort to out-do each other!

A very amusing story, well-told and educational - any child or adult would learn some maths easily from this story!

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lion's Share is an excellent addition to teaching concepts of halving, doubling, and even fractions! The book starts off with the ant being invited to the lion's party. Other animals are invited as well like the elephant, gorilla, and the hippo. As the animals eat the cake at the end of the dinner, they all cut the cake in half. Then each of the animals double the amount of cakes to make than the animal before them. This book is a great way to show the difference between halving and doubling. It also has a good message at the end and can teach manners to students as well.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Also 5 stars! The ant is so kind. The rest of the animals are kind of selfish. But the gorilla is funny!" -Solo (5yrs)

"I didn't like this. The gorilla is too silly. I only liked the missing numbers book." -Peter (3yrs)

I can't quite put my finger on it, but as a storyteller who struggles with math, I wasn't impressed. I appreciated the concept, but I wish the mathematics were explained better within the story? My Kindergartener loved it though, so maybe I'm not the target audience. :P -Me

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for being an enjoyable book that has math at its center. My kids have requested this book numerous times. They enjoy being able to see the cake be cut into smaller and smaller pieces, but they most enjoy seeing the animals try to challenge each other to double the number of cakes they will make. The illustrations bring a lot of life to the story, which is not the greatest on its own, without the math content. As a book that includes math concepts, though, it is the most enjoyable one we have found.

[Brenna Bristol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was about a feast at the lion's palace. Ten animals attended the feast, from an ant to an elephant. Most of the animals lacked table manors, were not good at sharing and were too competitive; except for the ant.
I would use this book for discussing manors and sharing with friends in our classroom. Ideally, I would read it to my students and have them talk about what was okay and not okay to do in the story.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful story about sharing. When the ant had nothing left to share, she decides to make up for the inability to share and do something motivated out of kindness and generosity.
When the cakes start multiplying, the kids that I read this story to simply lose their minds! "Oh my God's" and "Whoa's" ring out through the library.
Kids really like cake I guess. I hope they understood the message of sharing!
It was, afterall, my emphasis.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ant gets an invite to dinner with the king of the jungle. She attends, and is upset by the bad manners on display by her fellow animals. Then the cake comes out and we have every animal taking one half of the cake. I could see where this was going. The ant doesn't have enough to share with the king so she makes him an offer of baking a cake. But everyone has to one-up her. It's a cute way to teach fractions and multiplication. Oz and I enjoyed the heck out of this one.

[Zackary · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for introducing the concepts of fractions in an early elementary classroom. The story is interesting and uses a wide cast of animals to engage young readers while the math is integrated seamlessly into the plot. This is not only a fun book for your classroom but also a great springboard into larger fraction activities.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

We LOVED this book, and read it over and over again. The story is funny, the characters are great, the artwork is fantastic, and it's educational!!! We decided to make a sheet cake after we read it the first time, just to see how big the final piece ended up. Super fun book from the author of another favorite, Bean 13.

[Ruby Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really lovely book about sharing equally and being fair. This would be really useful for tracking fractions in KS2, as the language is really accessible but there are visual representations of the proportions of cake.

[Libby Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing math read aloud! The perfect way to introduce or re-iterate fractions for young learners.

Engaging illustrations, repetitive content that doesn’t feel repetitive. Definitely coming back to this one when my kids are ready to learn fractions.

Highly recommended for 8 and up.

[Priya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to use in a maths lesson when learning about fractions or a PSHE lesson if learning about friendships as it is also about learning to be a good friend, being kind, being patient and sharing. I think it has a good moral at the end that is similar to the "Hare and The Tortoise" story. Slow and steady wins the race. At the end of this book, it was the last character that had just the one cake and the most most simple design and yet it was the most successful, unlike the other characters who were a bit too overconfident and ambitious and they rushed. An important lesson can be learnt in this book is to be patient and allow time. A lovely story!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool story about fractions and the concept of continuously dividing in half. Also a nice lesson in sharing, generosity, and friendship. We'll revisit this one several times throughout the years as my kiddos learn more math!

[Christina Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

March is learning about the jungle. A book that helps with fractions and math as well as kindness and greed! We really enjoyed the book. The only thing it felt like it was missing a better conclusion.

[Jazmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to teach fractions, as well as dividing and multiplying. It also has a great lesson. The pictures are also extremely beautiful. My only wish is that it stayed with division or multiplication.

[Michelle Zhao · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids loved this book at ages 2 and 5. The combination of a little light math, humor, and tons of fabulous cake flavors was perfect! Older kids would grasp the math concepts more completely, and probably would still appreciate the humor and cake flavors.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations are amazing and the story is okay. This is a better introduction to fractions than story, but definitely fun to introduce the concept of fractions to the young elementary school crowd.

[Ashra · Rating 5 out of 5]

New Favorite Picture Book.

I am obsessed with the karmic retribution of this one. The numbers are great too. Unfortunately I think the kids at StoryTime couldn't follow along with the halving and the doubling of the numbers (so clever!) but that one's on them