Product Description

This follow-up to the phenomenal, best-selling The Amazing Pop-Up Grammar Book does the impossible: It makes times tables exciting. With madcap charm and fabulous paper engineering, it entices children to solve multiplication problems again and again--the only way to learn them. A fashion-conscious octopus and giant mechanical hands are just two of many pop-ups and other clever features, including flaps, tabs, mini-books, and moving parts. Tables from zero to twelve are fully illustrated and accompanied by a chatty text that shares secret memorization tricks. Word balloons and wacky animal narrators lend tremendous visual appeal to a title that will please children as much as it does their parents!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1028598 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 16 pages

Amazon.com Review
Amaze your friends! Lift the fiendish flaps! Launch the rocket! Work the candy machine!

The invitations shouted on the cover of this marvelously outlandish pop-up book instantly let young readers know that this is no ordinary multiplication lesson. In the book's opening pages, readers learn that when they multiply any number by zero, the answer is always zero! To illustrate that point in a sillier manner, turn a wheel and watch numbers disappear into a black hole. The 4 times table is displayed as a ghoulish Halloween picnic: "Multiply each number by 4," drips vampire-boy Frederick Four, "and there will be 4 times as many foul things to eat!" What horrors does he reference? Three crunchy frogs leap to 12 crunchy frogs with the lift of a flap! Ten chocolate bellybuttons transform to 40!

The 8 times table is brought to you by a pink pop-up octopus named Edina Eight. "Hello, darlings!" she exclaims. "I simply adore shoes, but I need 8 to go with each outfit. Pull the tab to multiply by 8 and to see how many shoes I need to go with my entire wardrobe." This wild ride continues all the way to 12 for the grand finale--a square multiplication table that shows the times tables up to 12, encased in a pull-out box that explodes with pop-up fireworks. This zany, dizzying book is certainly not meant to replace trusty flashcards and a good math teacher. But if kids are swimming in what they perceive to be humorless times tables, this maniacal mathematical pop-up book may be a welcome diversion. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4-A disorganized look at multiplication. With no introduction, readers open the book to "Meet the Stars"-Tim Times, Eddie Equals, etc.-in an outer-space setting on the front endpapers. Multiplication by zero is written as 0x, which makes it look more like a word than a math operation. Still in space, the one times table is quickly explained on the next page. Two is on a double-page spread featuring Noah's Ark. The rest of the numerals and their multiples get one page each with different color and picture schemes, except 9 and 10, which share a large pair of hands across two pages. There are shortcuts, comments, and other hints for each multiplication table with lots of tabs and flaps that move, pull, pop, and lift up. Some of them are hard to find and hard to operate. Moving parts do not always line up clearly, making it difficult to relate problems to answers. The full-color drawings and text leave no blank spaces adding to the confusing and cluttered look. Children using this title must be focused and skilled readers to tell whether instructions or humorous asides are being presented on the crowded pages filled with type, illustrations, and pop-ups. This book is sure to frustrate novice math students.
Nancy A. Gifford, Schenectady County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

excellent learning tool
My students were very impressed with this book. Matter of fact, I had quite a few who argued over who would read it first! I have to get another copy because so many of my students wanted to read and this is a very colorful, valuable learning tool for children and adults!

Motivational, Hands-on, and Fun!
My students also found this book to be a favorite. Teaching multiplication is one of my favorite things to teach because there are so many fun things you can do with it. This book is one of the ways to make multiplication fun. Every page is interactive and hands-on. This is sure to be a hit with a second or third grader who is beginning to learn basic multiplication.