The Multiplying Menace Divides

by Pam Calvert, Wayne Geehan (Illustrator)

Overview

A ribbiting math adventure!

After being banished to the Abyss of Zero in MULTIPLYING MENACE: THE REVENGE OF RUMPELSTILTSKIN, Rumpelstiltskin is back, and he’s stirring up more trouble than ever. Together with his sidekick, a witch named Matilda, Rumpelstiltskin plots his revenge on Peter and uses his magical powers to divide the kingdom into frogs. Peter and his dog, Zero, must locate the Great Multiplier and find a solution that will break the Great Divide before Rumpelstiltskin has a chance to combine the two mighty math sticks. Can Peter once again save the kingdom in time, or will it meet a green and warty fate?

Young readers will fall in love with this math adventure and learn all about dividing by whole numbers and fractions, as well as division rules for equations involving zero. Beautifully rendered illustrations will grab readers’ attention as they learn basic math skills in a fun and inventive way. Back matter includes a summary of the basics of division.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570917820
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	02/01/2011
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	163,421
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	660L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Pam Calvert, a former schoolteacher, is the author of MULTIPLYING MENACE: THE REVENGE OF RUMPELSTILTSKIN and PRINCESS PEEPERS. She lives in South Texas.

Editorial Reviews

Prince Peter begins to notice strange things in his town. There are cows that resemble frogs, knights that resemble frogs and royal advisors that resemble frogs. Then Peter discovers what is going on. A witch named Matilda and the funny little Rumpelstiltskin are plotting revenge on the king and his son by dividing the kingdom into frogs using a stick that they call the Great Divide and a green Frog Crystal that changes people and animals into frogs. The two plotters capture Peter because they know that he has the Great Multiplier. They want to capture it, knowing that if they combine the Great Multiplier with their Great Divide, then they will have math powers that are unmatched. Peter is horrified as Rumpelstiltskin and Matilda wreak havoc on the countryside with their Great Divide and Frog Crystal, dividing up creatures into small groups and recreating them into frogs. But Peter is a great mathematician and he figures out how to use his math knowledge to find out where his dog, Zero, has buried the Great Multiplier. Peter overcomes the two evil ones by dividing zero by zero, causing the Frog Crystal to shatter, and turning Rumpelstiltskin and Matilda into frogs themselves. This book would be a good resource in an upper elementary math classroom. It has puzzles throughout, so students can identify the math problems throughout the text. It goes over challenging math concepts, as it also covers dividing by fractions. Reviewer: Marcie Flinchum Atkins

Children's Literature - Marcie Flinchum Atkins

In Calvert's follow-up to herMultiplying Menace: The Revenge of Rumpelstiltskin(2006), Peter must work again to thwart the mathematically evil antics of the little man and his witch friend, Matilda. This time, the duo is armed with both a dividing stick and a magic Frog Crystal. When used together, a group of living things is divided, with a fractional part of them suddenly becoming frogs. As in her first outing, the author tries to educate readers as to the difference between dividing by a whole number and dividing by a fraction. While helpful reinforcement for children who already understand the concept, this will not serve as a reliable teaching tool for those who do not, although the division notes at the back are well written. The crosses between different animals and human and frogs in Geehan's humorous acrylics will certainly tickle readers' funny bones, but ultimately they do little to meet educational aims. At the end of the day, this weak story does not stand without its predecessor, and its limited audience makes this as sensible a purchase as the quotient of one over zero.(Picture book. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews