The Horn Book Guide

SCIENCE

Michelson, Richard

Ten Times Better

40 pp. | Cavendish | September, 2000 | Trade ISBN 0-7614-5070-X $$17.95

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Leonard Baskin. A clever fusion of math and poetry, this introduction to multiplying by ten features pairs of boastful animals who try to one-up each other mathematically. For example, after an ant brags about its six legs, a crocodile points out: "I have SIXTY teeth. I'm a great masticator. / (That means I chew first, and ask questions later.)" The playful rhyming couplets beg to be read aloud, and Baskin's watercolors are large and dramatic.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger