What Floats in a Moat?: with audio recording

by Lynne Berry, Matthew Cordell (Illustrator)

Overview

A goat and a hen turn a playful exploration of physics into scientific fun that rises to the top!

Archie the Goat has a delivery to make. He has several barrels of buttermilk that the queen needs, but in order to get them to her, he needs to cross the moat.

Testing several different theories to find out what will float and what will sink, Archie and his friend Skinny the Hen don’t succeed at first, but they do try, try, try again (and again). And with reason and persistence, they’ll get that buttermilk where it needs to be!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442481312
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	07/09/2013
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
Lexile:	AD400L (what's this?)
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lynne Berry has published numerous poems in Cricket and Ladybug magazines, and she is the author of the picture books Duck Skates, The Curious Demise of the Contrary Cat, What Floats in a Moat?, and Pig and Pug. Lynne lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Matthew Cordell’s work has appeared in several books, including Leap Back Home to Me by Lauren Thompson and Itsy-Bitsy Baby Mouse by Michelle Meadows. He lives with his wife outside of Chicago.

Editorial Reviews

K-Gr 3—In the tradition of classic cartoon-art picture books, this gem tells a fun, slapstick story while teaching the basic physics of buoyancy and Archimedes's principle. Archie the Goat wants to devise a method of crossing the moat to the castle. His friend Skinny the Hen suggests simply taking the drawbridge, but Archie prefers a challenge and sets out to build a contraption to float. The entertaining spot art done with pen-and-ink and watercolor is full of energy and movement, drawing out the humor in the punchy text. Using barrels of buttermilk, Archie tries to make it across the moat. All day and into the night, much puzzling and experimenting results in a dripping goat and a far less skinny hen. Finally, Archie gets it right and floats across to meet a very frustrated porcine queen who wants to know what happened to the rest of her buttermilk. An author's note further explains buoyancy and wonderful barrel endpapers complete the package. This story will liven up any science class and also hold its own as a spirited pleasure read.—Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA

School Library Journal

Archie, a goat, and Skinny, a chicken, are trying to reach a castle. The castle has a moat around it, and Skinny suggests the obvious: “We could just take the drawbridge.” Archie, whose knight’s helmet gives him an air of crusading zeal, has bigger plans. “This is a time for science!” he proclaims. Berry (Ducking for Apples) spins her tale with lighthearted, Gilbert and Sullivan–style patter: “ ‘To cross the moat,’ pronounced the goat, ‘we build a contraption to float!’ ” Experimenting with barrels and different quantities of buttermilk—Skinny reluctantly guzzling the excess—the two discover that a full barrel will sink, an empty barrel will roll, but a boat built from a half-empty barrel (the “S.S. Ballast”) will sail. The process of discovery entertains throughout, aided by Cordell’s (Hello! Hello!) loopy ink-and-wash vignettes, which he enlivens with hand-lettered “klunks” and “splashes.” Incidentally, Berry’s exposition of Archimedean discoveries about the displacement of water gives the scientific process of trial-and-error genuine drama. Mostly, though, it’s a highly enjoyable read-aloud whose characters are both eccentric and loveable. Ages 5–9. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (July)

Publishers Weekly