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The Bark Park
Discover Math Matters! With over 11 million books sold worldwide, this award-winning series of easy-to-read books will help young readers ages 5-8 approach math with enthusiasm. Great for fans of MathStart or Step into Reading Math.
Pups love the Bark Park, the best dog park around. Only one thing would make it better for everyone—a bench! But a bench isn’t in the park budget. How can Lila and her friends raise the money? With a dog wash! They reach 25% of the goal, then 50%, until . . . a sudden shower threatens to make the dog wash a 100% washout!
With engaging stories that connect math to kids’ everyday lives, each book in the Teachers’ Choice Award-winning Math Matters series focuses on a single concept and reinforces math vocabulary and skills. Bonus activities in the back of each book feature math and reading comprehension questions, and even more free activities online add to the fun! (Math topic: Percentages)
Series Overview: For over 20 years, Math Matters has been a go-to series to help kids learn about difficult math concepts—from bar graphs to skip counting to doubling—through fun, easy-to-read realistic stories. Math + reading = school success!
Pups love the Bark Park, the best dog park around. Only one thing would make it better for everyone—a bench! But a bench isn’t in the park budget. How can Lila and her friends raise the money? With a dog wash! They reach 25% of the goal, then 50%, until . . . a sudden shower threatens to make the dog wash a 100% washout!
With engaging stories that connect math to kids’ everyday lives, each book in the Teachers’ Choice Award-winning Math Matters series focuses on a single concept and reinforces math vocabulary and skills. Bonus activities in the back of each book feature math and reading comprehension questions, and even more free activities online add to the fun! (Math topic: Percentages)
Series Overview: For over 20 years, Math Matters has been a go-to series to help kids learn about difficult math concepts—from bar graphs to skip counting to doubling—through fun, easy-to-read realistic stories. Math + reading = school success!
- GenresPicture Books
32 pages, Paperback
Published July 19, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 8, 2022
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
In this beginning reader, Lila takes her dog, Coco, to the dog park. On the way, she passes Mr. Romero and his dog, Lady, but Mr. Romero doesn't want to go to t he park because he is turning 80 and there are no benches in the park for when he gets tired. Lila meets Nolan and Sophie, whose mother is on the park committee, and the children decide to ask for a bench. Sadly, benches cost $100 (when they are half off), and the committee doesn't have the m oney. The children decide to raise it by having a dog wash business. They charge $5 per dog, makes a chart documenting their progress towards their goal, and manage to raise the money and have it in place for Mr. Romero's birthday.
Strengths: This is a fun, math oriented book that is part of the Math Matters series. The plot is simple, easy to follow, and quite sweet. I loved the neighborhood feel, and how the children are motivated to help out Mr. Romero. The math is woven in nicely. The illustrations are very fun, and have a bit of a 1960s vibe to them, which I always enjoy.
Weaknesses: It's a bit of a stretch that the children raised the money for the bench on Saturday and had it in place on Monday, but young readers won't know that it would be another $100 just for shipping, and the bench would have to be ordered and come from hundreds of miles away. (I recently was involved in bench negotiations, and the whole process will have taken about three years!)
What I really think: If these had been around when my children were young, I would have asked for these for gifts. I suppose $7 isn't bad for a paperback, but I got all of their books at the thrift store for a quarter. Thirty years ago! These would be perfect to give to elementary teachers as well.
In this beginning reader, Lila takes her dog, Coco, to the dog park. On the way, she passes Mr. Romero and his dog, Lady, but Mr. Romero doesn't want to go to t he park because he is turning 80 and there are no benches in the park for when he gets tired. Lila meets Nolan and Sophie, whose mother is on the park committee, and the children decide to ask for a bench. Sadly, benches cost $100 (when they are half off), and the committee doesn't have the m oney. The children decide to raise it by having a dog wash business. They charge $5 per dog, makes a chart documenting their progress towards their goal, and manage to raise the money and have it in place for Mr. Romero's birthday.
Strengths: This is a fun, math oriented book that is part of the Math Matters series. The plot is simple, easy to follow, and quite sweet. I loved the neighborhood feel, and how the children are motivated to help out Mr. Romero. The math is woven in nicely. The illustrations are very fun, and have a bit of a 1960s vibe to them, which I always enjoy.
Weaknesses: It's a bit of a stretch that the children raised the money for the bench on Saturday and had it in place on Monday, but young readers won't know that it would be another $100 just for shipping, and the bench would have to be ordered and come from hundreds of miles away. (I recently was involved in bench negotiations, and the whole process will have taken about three years!)
What I really think: If these had been around when my children were young, I would have asked for these for gifts. I suppose $7 isn't bad for a paperback, but I got all of their books at the thrift store for a quarter. Thirty years ago! These would be perfect to give to elementary teachers as well.
August 16, 2023
When Lila learns that her elderly neighbor can't take his dog to the dog park because they don't have a bench for him to sit on, she works with her friends to host a dog wash (like a car wash for dogs) to raise the money for one. A story about dogs and math (percentages). This series is a good one to incorporate math into a relatable and believable story. I do wish the book addressed the 50% off benches coupon more with a callout at the bottom of the page, like the other pages with percentages did.
October 27, 2025
Sweet story about saving money to buy a bench for a dog park. Would be great for elementary aged kids and talks about money. Not great for toddlers but T enjoyed the dogs a little.
December 13, 2025
a cute book for introducing children to the concepts of money and of percentages
Want to Read
April 4, 2022Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews