Pub Date: March 25, 2014
Dewey: FIC
LCCN: 2012024435
Lexile Code: 0680
Features: Illustrated, Price on Product
Target Age Group: 07 to 10
Physical Info: 0.20" H x 9.30" L x 8.30" W ( 0.35 lbs) 32 pages
BISAC Categories:
Juvenile Fiction | Technology | General | Action and Adventure | Mathematics
Series: Charlesbridge Math Adventures
Description: A humorous look at simplifying fractions.
Review Quotes: "Not only tackling fractions, but simplifying them, this fills a need and thoroughly entertains. George Cornelius Factor (G.C.F., get it?) collects fractions. But he's not alone: Baron von Mathematik and Madame de Géométrique also covet the 5/8 that is newly up for auction. But the nefarious Dr. Brok, a master of disguise, steals it. He 'can take a 1/2 and turn it into a 2/4 or a 3/6. It's still the same fraction, but it looks different.' George won't be deterred. He invents a Reducer-half ray gun, half calculator-that zaps fractions into their lowest terms and goes to Dr. Brok's mansion to confront him and find the 5/8. A clever bit of detective work and a rousing action sequence later, and the 5/8 is back to its lowest terms and part of George's collection. Throughout, Einhorn finds ways to humorously add fractions to his tale--the fraction lovers bid portions of $1 million, and Brok's mansion is 1/10 of a mile tall--and painlessly describes the process of reducing them to their lowest terms. Backmatter summarizes the learning, though not as simply as the text. Clark's ink-and-watercolor illustrations truly make the characters' personalities shine. Dr. Brok looks something like professor Hinkle of Frosty the Snowman fame, while the pages simply ooze with the aura of a great mystery. No question--a large fraction of parents and teachers will be reaching for this."
--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"A playwright, Einhorn manages to keep up the dramatic tension between the intrepid hero and the sneering villain while slipping in bits of fraction-wrangling information along the way. Using a restrained palette, cartoonist Clark boosts the story's comedy and its drama with his exaggerated portrayals of the characters and their actions. An appended page tells and shows how to reduce a fraction, an idea that even non-collectors may find useful. This amusing book could help lessen the all-too-common fear of fractions."
--Booklist