K-Gr 2-In this companion book to Math Fables (Scholastic, 2004), Tang offers 10 rhymes about animals that teach science concepts as well as basic arithmetic. In addition (no pun intended), each selection contains a moral, such as for the seahorse, "He's happy to be different-/it makes him more unique!" and for the herons, "They know the secret to success/is patience, smarts, and skill!" For number six, "Know Spitting" shows how the archerfish can aim at insects above the water and knock them into the water to catch their dinner. Then combinations of archerfish are shown in groups of five and one, four and two, and three and three. The author also encourages vocabulary growth by using words such as "din," "gorged," "physique," and "marsupials." The bright, bold computer-generated illustrations bring personality to the animals and create colorful displays for counting and adding. Further information about the animal highlighted in each rhyme is appended.-Sandra Welzenbach, Villarreal Elementary School, San Antonio, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Anything but a one-trick pony, Tang offers not only math concepts in his latest collection of verse, but natural history, challenging vocabulary, wordplay and wisdom to boot. Going from one (male, pregnant) seahorse to ten seagulls, animals in each poem combine and recombine in different groupings to, usually, hunt--"1 bat flew off into the sky / to hear what he could find. / 6 others followed after him / a flap or two behind"--using natural attributes and, in several cases, tools, too. In Morley's brightly colored, artfully composed natural scenes, the animals are accurately rendered and their groups clearly differentiated; even younger children will have no trouble counting them and seeing how they add together. That the poems also have titles like "The Sound and the Furry," use words like "camouflaged" and end, as fables should, in Lessons ("All 6 were feeling quite content / with food enough for each. / They know that aiming high in life / leaves nothing out of reach!") adds enough nuance and content to reward any number of subsequent re-readings. A seamless blend of pleasure and purpose sandwiched between an introduction for adults and a closing page of recapitulated science facts. (Nonfiction poetry. 4-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.