A Fraction's Goal-Parts of A Whole is a special treasure I found on Overdrive (my library's eBook and audiobook collection). That makes this more of a recommendation than a review. 

This is a picture book in rhyme that very casually teaches a concept that many children fear: fractions. 

Starring colorful cats and bold colors, the book takes a playful approach to teaching math ideas. 

I checked this book out to read to my 3rd grader, though my 4th grader enjoyed it as well. Later I caught them "playing" math by making fractions of random things like stuffed animals, shoes, and paper shapes they made. They even polled each other about their favorite things and made fractions and pie charts of the results.

In my opinion, books that get results like this are worth sharing. Education shouldn't be a fight. This book made an important lesson effortless and fun. A Fraction's Goal- Parts of A Whole would also be a great fit for cat-lovers using Kitty-Doodle's Homeschooling Curriculum. 

Thankfully, this book is part of a whole series of books that teach math  with a kid-friendly, picture book approach. The series includes: 

1. How Long or How Wide?- A Measuring Guide
2. The Mission of Addition
3. The Action of Subtraction

And a lot more!

The books are written by Brian P. Cleary and Illustrated by Brian Gable. If you aren't familiar with this author I challenge you to check out his work. He also has a series covering grammar. They're lots of fun. These book belong in your learning library! 

Be sure to visit his website too. You'll find printables, games and teacher tools. It's worth the visit. 

Of course, my admiration entitles this book to a five star rating and a recommendation I hope you'll take. 

I also encourage you to check out your library's eBook lending system. There's no telling what treasures you may find there. 

​Happy learning!

Are you looking for a fun way to teach a tricky topic like dangling participles? Don’t Dangle Your Participle by Vanita Oelschlager delivers laughs and educational value in a 42 page book designed to teach children ages 6-10.
The book opens with a rundown on what a participle is and a few examples which serve to explain the importance of correctly placing the participle.

The academic tone of the first two-page section made my children squirm a  little as they began to think that this book was going to be too much like a text book with a couple cute images thrown in to tease them.

Then we turned the page.

Beautiful, full-page illustrations popped with color, bringing to life some goofy sentences with participles placed all wrong. Even my youngest was catching on to the silliness.

Each goofy page was followed by a corrected sentence and an illustration to express the change.

The contrast was obvious and the problems were more quickly noticed as we progressed through the book.

Each participle is written in italics which helps the kids to spot them faster.

I thought this book was clever and educational. After their initial scare, my children were very pleasantly surprised that this book really was fun. Listening as they giggled and shouted out the correct sentences before I could flip the page, was all the confirmation I need that they were enjoying this unexpected lesson in grammar.

The website provides some neat ideas for using this book in a homeschool setting. I especially like this suggestion:

• Art classes could do their own ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ sentences

with participles.

I’m sure we’ll revisit the book in the future, both for reviewing the concept of dangling participles and for a hilarious moment together.

​I give this book five stars.

Order your copy on Amazon or Barnes&Noble.Disclosure: I received a free copy of Don’t Dangle Your Participle from Vanita Books via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.