The Great Divide is a book that attempts to introduce the concept of division. The book begins by giving the names of collective noun names of animals. The book then continues to used collective nouns in the text that were not defined in the beginning. such as bale for a group of sea turtles and charm for a group of Hummingbirds. Each page asks how many in each group with a division statement on the page. I dislike this book for two main reasons. The groups of so close together I think it would be hard for a child to know where groups start and end. I also don't know why the author failed to mention one of the most important concepts of division. All groups must have an equal amount of units. Division is not a hard concept to teach but this book seems to confuse more than it explains. I taught my child the concept of divison by asking her if she had this amount of cookies and this amount of people to share them with how many cookies would each person get to be fair. Simple, everyday division that the author somehow complicated it. I think she tried to merge too many subjects into one book instead of focusing on the math. She tried to combine the concept of collective names, groups of animals names, and division into one book and it didn't work. ( )

Little Kid Reaction: My friend’s son found the book interesting and it did assist him in grasping the concept of division. He liked the animal illustrations.

Big Kid Reaction: Great art and animal illustrations add to making this a non-threatening way of introducing a child to division. The four pages of activities at the end are excellent.

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We’ve all heard about a pride of lions or a pack of wolves, but do you know what a group of gorillas is called? In a manner similar to her What’s New at the Zoo? (addition), What’s the Difference? (subtraction), and Multiply on the Fly (multiplication), author Suzanne Slade uses rhyming verse to introduce youngsters to division facts as they also learn about what bunches of different kinds of animals are called. For instance, if you have twenty tough gorillas, and they all march off in five directions, how many will be in each band?
The first couple of pages point out that many animals spend a lot of time with their families and friends and then identify the names for many collections of common animals, such as a skulk of foxes and a dray of squirrels. In the back, a collective nouns matching activity, a “Where in the World” quiz, and a couple of pages with further information about division “For Creative Minds,” can all be found, and there are even more activities and quizzes for The Great Divide at the publisher’s website. Erin E. Hunter’s illustrations are a great addition to this cross-curricular approach where children can bone up on their division in a setting where they can also study a little bit about nature. ( )