Guinea Pigs Add Up

by Margery Cuyler, Tracey Campbell Pearson (Illustrator)

In bouncy, appealing rhyme, young readers are introduced to a classroom with a hairy problem-guinea pigs that keep adding and adding! From one lonely guinea pig to two to five and all the way up to twenty, the kids find that having a classroom pet is more than they bargained for. Finally, each student gets to take a guinea pig home, until they are left with zero. That is, until Mr. Gilbert brings in a rabbit with a growing belly . . . !

From master storyteller Margery Cuyler and with energetic illustrations from Tracey Campbell Pearson, Guinea Pigs Add Up is perfect for budding mathematicians-or anyone with a love for unruly animals.

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, Childrens, Animals, Humor, School, Teaching

32 pages, Hardcover

First published June 22, 2010

About the author

Margery Cuyler is the author of many books for children, including From Here to There, The Little Dump Truck, and That’s Good! That’s Bad! The idea for That’s Good! That’s Bad! was inspired by a conversation with her son, Thomas, who asked, "Can't bad things change into good things?" Ms. Cuyler grew up in the oldest house in Princeton, NJ, and started writing stories as soon as she learned how to write. She now lives in the same house with her husband, sons and two cats.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/marger...

Reviews

[Penny McGill · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read books TO our guinea pigs. Only the ones that include guinea pigs in the story, and occasionally the guinea pig care books which say things like "guinea pigs like broccoli and it is one of their favourite treats" but we do this to tell the guinea pigs that they SHOULD eat the broccoli.

This picture book was very popular at this house. We all laughed at the end and were thrilled with the style of drawings. The text rhymes which is always a favourite thing and you can tell the author has experience with the guinea pigs because she uses all the right words. Loved this book AND it had a fun little math lesson going on also.

Don't let your kids read this book if you aren't keen on someday purchasing one of these sweet animals. It will make it even harder to say no to your kids.

[Tanya Wadley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun story about how quickly the guinea pigs multiply... incorporates math, addition, multiplication, subtraction into a story that interests children... all the more interesting to us since we just got 2 guinea pigs for pets.

[Shane Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was very entertaining. It isn't just a literature book but also a number book that you can somehow incorporate teaching your students how to count or asking them how many guinea pigs there are since it's they add up throughout the story. I'm sure the story will be relatable to a lot of students, and the illustration fills the page full of colors.

Reading Level:
LEXILE - 650L
ATOS - 2.8

Traits:
Voice and Word Choice

[Marissa Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book four stars because of its playful storyline along with its seamless integration of math. The built-in number line makes it easy to count up or down along with the story. This would be a fun book to integrate into a Kindergarten or first-grade math lesson.

Guided Reading: M
Lexile: 650

[Katie Michkiosky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for learning counting! It also demonstrates a good use of rhythm within sentences, and repetition of the main story line.



Sentence Fluency & Organization

DRA = 28
Lexile = N/A

[Emily Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book asks students to think critically about how guinea pigs add up, and could be used to teach math concepts with guinea pigs after the book is read. This book employs rhyme and meter, is realistic for students to experience in their own classrooms.


Lexile: 525
DRA: 24
Six Traits: Ideas

[Abby Ambrose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lexile: 525L
DRA: 20
Six Traits: Presentation
This is a fun book that encourages students to practice math in an engaging way. They might not even realize they are practicing math at the time! There are many math-related activities that you could create with this book.

[Emma Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to help kids with reading and with math! There's lots of counting opportunities if this was used in a math lesson. Plus, it's a cute book that kids will like because they all love pets!

Lexile: 525L
GR: L
Trait: Presentation

[Hannah Brewster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book four stars. This is a good read that incorporates math! It has a fun story line and great pictures.

Traits: Sentence Fluency, Organization

Reading Levels:
DRA - 28
AR - 2.8

[Tori Jimenez · Rating 5 out of 5]

AR level: 2.8
Lexile: 515L

Very useful book for teaching kids about math in a way that they can easily understand. The illustrations offer many opportunities for students to count.

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute illustrations, nice rhyme scheme. Focuses on a classroom that gets a guinea pig, than another, and then all the guinea pigs!

[Skylar Lesser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great way to introduce addition to students. I gave it 5/5.
DRA = 36
Lexile = 620L
Theme: Sentence fluency

[Katarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, engaging math related book. Enjoyable for kids because it's funny and requires them to think about what is being read aloud.

DRA: 28
Lexile: 525

Presentation for sure. Students are able to engage with the illustrations to actually count.

[Natalie Ransom · Rating 5 out of 5]

2.8 ATOS
401 L

This is an adorable book to read to your child that is learning how to add and subtract. It really allows the numbers to come to life for the student and makes learning fun.

[Sami Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for explaining math concepts. Perfect for younger elementary schoolers (K-2). However, this could raise some questions about where babies come from.

Traits: Organization
Reading Level:
DRA: 28
ATOS: 2.8

[Alysa Dail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guinea Pigs Add Up follows Mr. Gilbert and his animal loving class. His students are soon to get a class pet and Mr. Gilbert surprises everyone with a guinea pig! However, what starts with a single guinea pig and an innocent idea for a simple class pet, turns into complete guinea pig chaos, as eventually there are 2,3,4,...guinea pigs. Soon,there is a complete domination of the classroom! Mr. Gilbert rushes to find a solution to the growing amount of furry critters. As the guinea pigs multiply, more numbers appear on the pages that allow the children to count along with the growing number of guinea pigs. This book provides an exciting animal scenario, forces thought, and engages mathematics at the same time.



* An activity for this book could include a game of pet charades! The children could form a circle and each child could take a turn going into the middle of the circle and, without words, act out a favorite or ideal pet. The other kids would then have to raise their hands and guess the pet. The teacher can ask various questions about how that certain pet is cared for, what noise it makes, or they could even tie it back to the book and ask the students how they think the book may have ended if Mr. Gilbert's classroom pet were the pet that the current charades player just acted out.



Cuyler, M., & Pearson, T. C. (2010). Guinea pigs add up. New York: Walker & Co..

[Arminzerella · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Mr. Gilbert adopts a guinea pig for his classroom, his students convince him that the pig needs a friend because it’s lonely. The guinea pigs, who are male and female, quickly reproduce and soon the class has 5 guinea pigs, then 20, and then Mr. Gilbert decides they all have to go! The students, meanwhile, learn all kinds of things about guinea pigs and mathematics (addition and subtraction). All the guinea pigs go home with the students who love them best and at the end there’s a new classroom pet – what will happen now? Cute story, rhyming text, and illustrations that really capture the spirit of these squirmy, talkative, inquisitive cavies.

[Sarah Howlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trait: Organization, Sentence Fluency
ATOS: 2.8
Lexile: 520L
Guinea Pigs Add Up incorporates math and reading in a fun and interesting way. There is rhyme and meter incorporated throughout the story. I love the idea of starting a math lesson with a picture book to get kids engaged and excited for the lesson.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an entertaining story that incorporates math concepts in a fun way. The story is not overly didactic - the math just comes along naturally as a consequence of the storyline. Our girls really enjoyed this story and loved sharing their opinions on the cute animals and telling tales about their class pets.

[Noel Echols]

A class gets a guinea pig as a class pet. He gets lonely so they get another guinea pig to be his friend. Little does the class know that the two guinea pigs are opposite genders and they end up making babies. The class ends up with more and more guinea pig babies.

Great addition lesson could be pulled directly from the story

[Tasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter really enjoyed this book as two of the guinea pigs look like our own pair of pigs.
I enjoyed that the guinea pigs in the book were shown eating hay, living in a large cage, needing to have a playmate & playtime, and being fed veggies.

I disliked that, while this is a children's book meant in good fun, the 'adding up' part comes from irresponsible breeding.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a great read aloud for kindergarten-2nd grade. The rhyming text is fun and whimsical. The author's inclusion of basic math concepts (addition and *spoiler alert* subtraction too) is well done, very subtle.

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up because I love guinea pigs. I was disappointed. The story is cute, about a class, their pet guinea pig and how that one becomes many. The illustrations let the book down. I should have known from the cover. The illustrations use washed out colours and are far too busy.

[Beth Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book about classroom pets that multiply. Don't get if you are looking for a counting book - there are some numbers, but the enumeration is a small piece only of this book. Illustrations are really nice - cute kids, cute, cuddly animals.

[Emma Horn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book four stars because of entertaining plot and use of math in a children’s book. The illustrations were detailed and the ideas in this book were relatable to young students. The author creatively intertwined math concepts into literature.

Organization
Ideas

LEXILE: 650L
ATOS: 2.8

[Breezi McClenahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book to introduce counting to a primary elementary class. Lots of kids can relate to this book because most kids want pets of some kind. A very cute and lighthearted book.

Lexile: 410-600L
ATOS: 4.4

Six and One Trait: Word choice

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable but enjoyable.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good teaching the addition and subtraction skills
to elementary students. Class pet story. And helpful when
reading about the care of guinea pigs and their noises and antics.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for math storytime.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5