Fisher does for 1, 2, 3 in this clever volume what she did for ABC in Ellsworth's Extraordinary Electric Ears and Other Amazing Alphabet Anecdotes
. In this entertaining book of numbers, she demonstrates how figures can factor into everyday life, whether it be flipping flapjacks or licking lollipops. Fisher takes readers inside 15 miniature dioramas, where dogs "sip tea in the tub" and dinosaurs wait for a departing train. Her scenarios take readers' minds off math's complexity and instead focus on daily doings—a clever device especially for struggling young mathematicians. Fisher peppers her prose with alliteration ("The heavenly hats at Madame Millie's Millinery are brimming with blossoms, butterflies, and bows"). Her word choices are not of the plain-vanilla variety, either, and may well broaden readers' vocabulary: "Ichabod's ice cream flavors are enticing.... Tex takes scoops of toffee, tomato, and tangerine." The accompanying illustration depicts the boys with cones, all piled three-scoops high, they've purchased from a straw-hatted, bow-tie clad vendor in a cone-shaped stand. Fisher's artwork plays homage to Monty Python's Terry Gilliam, creating a collage-like medium that beckons readers to explore these pages on many levels, and the compositions give clues to the simple addition, subtraction and multiplication problems. For those craving even more math, the final pages offer solutions to the original problems posed as well as additional "math mysteries." Math made fun? Problem solved. Ages 5-9. (Feb.)
