Balance the Birds: A Picture Book

by Susie Ghahremani

Overview

Award-winning illustrator Susie Ghahremani’s picture book Balance the Birds introduces key early math skills for toddlers.

A follow-up to Stack the Cats, Balance the Birds is about balance and relative size. When birds spot a tree and decide to land on its branches, the readers can help them find the perfect balance.

“As visually exciting as Stack the Cats . . . this attractive book can still lead to fruitful discussions and scientific play.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Ghahremani has created another colorful, simple concept book illustrating balance . . . A sophisticated mathematical concept that, broken into several examples, is made easily and enjoyably understandable.” —Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419728761
Publisher:	Abrams Appleseed
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	514,511
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Susie Ghahremani is an award-winning illustrator and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). When not painting tiny paintings, illustrating children’s books, designing stationery and gifts, teaching at RISD, exhibiting her work internationally, shipping orders, or connecting with the illustration community, she lives in sunny San Diego with her husband and zillions of pets.

Editorial Reviews

"Ghahremani has created another colorful, simple concept book illustrating balance . . . ​A sophisticated mathematical concept that, broken into several examples, is made easily and enjoyably understandable."

Booklist

"As visually exciting as Stack the Cats . . . this attractive book can still lead to fruitful discussions and scientific play."—Kirkus Reviews

"Ghahremani has created another colorful, simple concept book illustrating balance . . . ​A sophisticated mathematical concept that, broken into several examples, is made easily and enjoyably understandable."—Booklist

From the Publisher

"Ghahremani has created another colorful, simple concept book illustrating balance . . . A sophisticated mathematical concept that, broken into several examples, is made easily and enjoyably understandable."

Booklist

2018-07-16
Following Stack the Cats (2017), here is another fun opportunity for young thinkers to use their observational skills.The birds, mostly deep aqua and olive, alight (sometimes) on a tree with many branches, set against striking backgrounds of orange, yellow, aqua, and blue. "Here come the birds! // Half on the left side / and half on the right. // This is how / the birds balance!": four on each side. Soon a squirrel upsets things and triggers further permutations. Most young children will follow the process easily, until that pesky squirrel scares all but one bird away. When a big white owl shows up, "How will these birds balance?" Five small birds fly in to "balance" one big one. Without knowing the weights involved, the idea of balance becomes very abstract. Finally, many types of birds of all sizes and shapes (and the squirrel) appear on the tree. The tree looks balanced again. This last double-page spread asks the open-ended question: "How will you / balance the birds?" It is an impossible question to answer given the visual information available. For some readers, it will just prove frustrating. For others, it may open up the path to physical experimentation with simple toys or equipment, if there are cooperative adults around. As visually exciting as Stack the Cats but not as successful conceptually, this attractive book can still lead to fruitful discussions and scientific play. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews