Bug Dance: Directions (MathStart 1 Series)

by Stuart J. Murphy, Christopher Santoro (Illustrator)

Overview

The bugs in Coach Caterpillar's gym class are learning a new dance. But Centipede can't do it! If he can't learn the directions left, right, forward, and backward, this class will be one big FLOP!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442052390
Publisher:	Baker & Taylor, CATS
Publication date:	05/21/2009
Series:	MathStart 1 Series
Pages:	33
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Stuart J. Murphy is a visual learning specialist. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, he has a strong background in design and art direction. He also has extensive experience in the world of educational publishing. Drawing on all these talents, Stuart J. Murphy brings a unique perspective to the MathStart series. In MathStart books, pictures do more than tell stories; they teach math.

Stuart J. Murphy and his wife, Nancy, live in Boston.

Christopher Santoro has been illustrating children's books for more than thirty years, including Grandpappy Snippy Snappies; A Pie Went By, a NEST Literary Classic; and the Dom DeLuise picture books Charlie the Caterpillar, Hansel and Gretel, The Nightingale, and King Bob's New Clothes. Christopher has been honored by the Society of Illustrators, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the American Library Association, and The New Yorker. He lives in Key West, Florida, with two cats, Ernie and Truman, and a dog, Stuart.

Editorial Reviews

Murphy (Seaweed Soup, 2001, etc.) adds to his popular MathStart series with this well-meant but clumsy effort at creating a plot around the directional terms left, right, forward, and backward. A handful of insects are collected for the story's characters, with a team of rascally red ants, protagonist Centipede, and his friends Cricket and Inchworm learning a new dance in gym class from Coach Caterpillar. Centipede, of course, has trouble learning the simple dance sequence because of his many feet, though he finally perseveres and gets all his feet going in the correct directions. The simple dance sequence is illustrated with step-by-step diagrams and directional arrows, with an additional summary page, musical score, and an author's note including related activities. Santoro's (Jumbo, 2001, etc.) vibrant watercolor illustrations of buggy-eyed insects are the work's greatest strength, with jolly, jumpy bugs that seem ready to dance off the page. The humorous illustrations soar, but the pedestrian plot about the clumsy centipede keeps tripping on its own feet. Though this isn't one of the best of the series, a determined teacher with enthusiastic read-aloud skills could integrate the story into math or gym class, especially if insects are also part of the curriculum. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews