Ninety-Three in My Family

This is a zany story told in lively verse style with descriptive language and totally wonderful illustrations that kids will just eat up...and the story is a hoot too, literally with 27 owls, 10 cats, 11 dogs, that gerbil that's ALWAYS doing something interesting...and sooooooo much more! I didn't know when I picked this up at our local library that it was a math opportunity disguised as a cute kid's tale...but it rather is. Ninety-Three in My Family isn't just a litany of counting animals either...there is a lot of humor here, like the times the WHOLE family goes on a car trip..."I'll tell you, it gets crowded/When we get in the car./And Mom and Dad get cranky/If we have to drive too far!" I would too if I had flamingos with their heads out the window and a squirrel on my head (which makes the dad sneeze by the way)...and the expression on the faces of the people they are driving past...beautifully done! I give Ninety-Three in My Family five stars, it's a whirlwind look at one very large family that also affords a visual feast through its illustrations and the added math dimension was quite nice, as this book goes beyond the opportunity to count from one to ten and lets your child try out 10, 11, 27 and many more!! There are PLENTY of opportunities to count all the animals and if you didn't find them all in the story pages, at the end there is a two page spread devoted to a black board representation of the who shebang laid out nicely!

Do you know a child who likes a tall tale? Or a child who loves animals and is constantly begging for just one more pet? Then "Ninety-Three in My Family" is for you! "Ninety-Three in My Family," written by Erica S. Perl and illustrated by Mike Lester, begins in the classroom. Today's topic? Our Families. The unflappable teacher asks the young narrator, "'How many live with you?'" And he answers, "I counted quickly in my head. I told her, 'Ninety-two.'" Why ninety-two? Well here's the narrator's rundown: "There's twenty-seven owls, Ten cats, eleven dogs, A pygmy hippo named Bernice, And eight blue speckled frogs. My mommy and my daddy, My sister's gerbil, Ed, Six goldfish and my sisters, Darlene and Winifred. Whenever people ask me How many live with me, I tell them true, there's ninety-two. Plus one (that's me!), we're ninety-three." Told in lively verse, "Ninety-Three in My Family" makes for a truly fun read-aloud. Mike Lester's illustrations are dynamic and, needless to say, packed with animals. The owls, with their grumpy faces, are particularly (dare I say it?) cute. Each colorful page has plenty to look at and look for. The book concludes with a surprise certain to delight the young reader. "Ninety-Three in My Family" is highly recommended fun for children ages three to ten.

We had a lot of pets growing up. A dog, gerbils, tropical fish of every stripe and variety. But that ain't nuthin. When the boy in this story is asked how many are in his family, he mentally adds up all the owls, gophers, lions, flamingoes, llamas, and, oh, I forget how many pets. Honestly, who can keep track? But it's fun trying. My son instantly ripped this from my mitts and has been scouring the book for all its hoofed, pawed, clawed, finned and feathered characters. Sure, most preschoolers already love counting, but even if they didn't, Perl slyly sneaks it all in with rolicking verses that careen from kitchen to car to bathtub and even the bed, mounded high with sleepy critters. Lester hand-sketched everything then digitally colored it, but it perfectly imitates the splotchy, impromptu feel of watercolors that just shouts "zany!" Nothing kills incentive like telling kids math is hard, but you'd never know it here, where you'll be hunting for that poor, carsick gerbil or making sure you've spotted all the tigers (wait, they're not spotted, they're striped. Hah!) The boy's teacher finally lists them all on the blackboard, and you may be amazed at what you missed. I want to hire this team to make broccoli taste like cupcakes. I bet they could do it too.

My kids just love searching the pictures to count the animals listed in each one. There are a bunch, like the gerbil, that have their own personalities that unfold over the course of the book. They never get tired of it. And it's not just the pictures. This book has a great way with language that makes the rhyme schemes seem natural. This one is sure to be a classic, though her Chicken Bedtime book is pretty darned great too.

Ninety-Three in My Family is a lively, hilarious book. The illustrations are fabulous and chaotic, and the story is wonderfully silly and fun. My daughter loves looking at every page, pointing at the crazy critters as we count how many of them there are. I love the fact that I'm entertained, too.