EQUAL SHMEQUAL
Author: Virginia Kroll
Illustrator: Philomena O'Neill
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Number of pages: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing (USA) First published in: 2005 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes Is this story part of a mathematics story series? Yes (Charlesbridge's Math Adventure) Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, IND, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
What does it mean to be equal? Mouse and her friends want to play tug-of-war but they can't figure out how to make teams that are equal. Nothing works until Mouse starts thinking mathematically. Wonderful illustrations capture Mouse and her animal friends from whiskers to tails. |
“"No fair!" complained Rabbit. "They're all big, and we're all small, so it isn't equal at all." [...] "I thought that instead of equal numbers," she explained, "our team could have equal weights. We could use the seesaw to figure it out."”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
In Virginia Kroll’s ‘Equal Shmequal’ (2005), a bored Mouse suggests to Bear that they should play a game of tug of war. Soon, other animals of different sizes and weights like Bobcat, Wolf, Rabbit, Box Turtle and Deer join in. It becomes apparent that just by ensuring that both teams have the same number of players is not enough to ensure the game is fair. Mouse suggests using a nearby seesaw as a tool to help ensure that both teams have equal weights instead. At this point of the story, we can see teachers and parents asking children to predict which animals will end up being in which team to ensure both teams have equal weights before carrying on reading the story to reveal that Mouse and Bear are in one team, and Bobcat, Wolf, Rabbit, Box Turtle and Deer are in the other. After finish reading the story, we can also see teachers and parents encouraging children to use a weighing scale to have a go at deciding how best to divide a range of plastic animal figures of different weights and sizes to ensure both teams can have a fair game of tug of war. We love this story as it raises a number of useful questions for young children to ponder, such as ‘What does being equal mean?’ and ‘What does being fair mean?’. As a bonus, we also have a leading female character in the form of Mouse who comes up with a mathematical solution to the problem – a sad rarity when it comes to mathematical story picture books. All in all, we recommend ‘Equal Shmequal’ to introduce the concept of weight comparison to children, aged 6+ years old.
Recommended age range:
6+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Mass, Volume & Capacity; Measurement Comparison
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.-)
In Virginia Kroll’s ‘Equal Shmequal’ (2005), a bored Mouse suggests to Bear that they should play a game of tug of war. Soon, other animals of different sizes and weights like Bobcat, Wolf, Rabbit, Box Turtle and Deer join in. It becomes apparent that just by ensuring that both teams have the same number of players is not enough to ensure the game is fair. Mouse suggests using a nearby seesaw as a tool to help ensure that both teams have equal weights instead. At this point of the story, we can see teachers and parents asking children to predict which animals will end up being in which team to ensure both teams have equal weights before carrying on reading the story to reveal that Mouse and Bear are in one team, and Bobcat, Wolf, Rabbit, Box Turtle and Deer are in the other. After finish reading the story, we can also see teachers and parents encouraging children to use a weighing scale to have a go at deciding how best to divide a range of plastic animal figures of different weights and sizes to ensure both teams can have a fair game of tug of war. We love this story as it raises a number of useful questions for young children to ponder, such as ‘What does being equal mean?’ and ‘What does being fair mean?’. As a bonus, we also have a leading female character in the form of Mouse who comes up with a mathematical solution to the problem – a sad rarity when it comes to mathematical story picture books. All in all, we recommend ‘Equal Shmequal’ to introduce the concept of weight comparison to children, aged 6+ years old.
Recommended age range:
6+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Mass, Volume & Capacity; Measurement Comparison
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.-)
