Measuring: The Perfect Playhouse Book

The four monsters learn about measurement when they ask Annie Ant to build a playhouse for them.

Kris Sauer - Children's Literature

The Math Monsters—Addison, Split, Multiplex and Mina—want to play catch but it is raining. They decide to build a playhouse and call Annie Ant, the builder, to help. Annie needs to know what size the Math Monsters want their playhouse to be. Readers follow along as the Monsters figure out the best way to provide accurate dimensions so that Annie Ant can build a playhouse big enough for all the Monsters to play in. Entertaining and amusing, this book is an excellent way to introduce children to the concept of measuring, which incorporates geometry and the use of numbers, in a non-threatening way. The book uses photographs from the Math Monsters public television series as well as simple, easy-to-read text. Multiple questions throughout the book actively engage the reader and related activities listed at the book's end give children and adults an opportunity to reinforce the book's concepts by putting them into practice. The Math Monsters public television series was developed in cooperation with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). The "Math Monsters" series of books is designed to meet and support NCTM Standards for Pre-K-2 mathematics content and process instruction. 2004, Weekly Reader Early Learning Library, Ages 5 up.