Virginia Kroll

This book was such a cute way to explain equal numbers in math. It tells the story of a group of animals playing tug-of-war against each other, and trying to find out the best way to split sides in order for both sides to be even. It began with the small animals (such as the mouse and turtle) versus larger animals (bob cat and bear) -- making it easy for the bigger animals to 'win". At first, they suggest vegetarians versus carnivores, then fur versus non-fur. However, as the story progresses, they understand that the weight of each animal needs to be distributed as evenly as possible on both sides. Very cute story that would be beneficial for younger readers to visualize halving amounts - as it also may be something that could be done in a math class between students.… (mer)

Equal Shmequal is about a bunch of animal friends wanting to play a game they saw the kids at school playing, tug-a-rope, but they can't seem to figure out how to make it fair. The friends try a bunch of different ways of splitting up the team, such as plant eaters only on one side and the other animals on the other. They do this until they finally figure out the perfect combination to make the game equal.
This book would be good in any classroom because the meaning of equal can be taken anyway. Are the numbers equal? Are the weights equal? Are the sentences equal? Do the meanings of the words equal each other? I rate this book a 4/5 because it is very easy to read and the pictures are great!… (mer)