Pigs in the Pantry: Fun with Math and Cooking

by Amy Axelrod, Sharon McGinley-Nally (Illustrator)

When poor Mrs. Pig gets a cold, Mr. Pig and the piglets devise a plan to get rid of her sniffles. The Pigs decide on the perfect remedy: to fix Mrs. Pig's favorite five alarm chili. Will the Pigs be able to cure Mrs. Pig with a spicy meal? Or will their measuring mistakes get them in hot water? Join the Pigs and see what trouble they can cook up in the kitchen.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, Counting, Cooking, Fiction, Education

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Amy Axelrod is the author of many picture books, including The Pigs Will Be Pigs Math Series (Simon & Schuster).
Her debut novel, Your Friend in Fashion, Abby Shapiro (Holiday House 2011) was based on her childhood growing up in the 60's.
"Funny, lively, sensitive- a real winner! (Kirkus)
Amy's latest novel was co-authored with her son, David, who works in publishing.
The Bullet Catch:Murder by Misadventure (Holiday House 2015) is a Junior Library Guild selection.
Amy lives with her husband in New York's Hudson Valley in a house built in 1729. When she isn't writing, she's reading, baking, biking, bird-watching, or dreaming about all the places on her bucket list.

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and funny and some teachable moments.

I'm not thrilled with the perpetuation of the stereotype of the man who can't cook (or clean up). Most dads these days are more competent in the kitchen, and certainly know where the pots and pans are!

That said, it's cute and you can talk about all the things the dad did wrong. I like that the recipe included is vegetarian, (vegan even) so it works for everyone. (Would have been icky if it called for pork since the main characters are pigs!)

I could see reading it to a group, and it's under consideration for my gardening/cooking week I'm planning at the library.

[Gaby Roman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I would use this book to introduce how to be safe while cooking and how to correctly measure things while you cook. I would try to make the firehouse chili as a class and measure of the ingredients together. I would see if my school would allow us to cook it in the kitchen or have an employee who works in the kitchen do it. I think this book could be used in the classroom to bring excitement about measurement when cooking.

[Theresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

about a dad that tries to cook but does not follow the recipies, and shows how to miss handel the situation

[Ryan Hagglund · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book, "Pigs in the Pantry Fun with Math and Cooking" was a really great book! "Pigs in the Pantry Fun with Math and Cooking", is about a family of pigs who are trying to take care of their momma pig who is not feeling well that day. They decide to attempt to make her feel better by cooking her favorite meal, and the story line travels with them throughout their attempt of cooking her favorite meal and the messes they make in that attempt. This book involved both math and cooking recipes in the book which is a super good way to involve the kids and get them intrigued in the book! The illustrations in this book were very detailed and involved the entire rainbow of colors which caught my eye. I recommend this book because it gets kids involved in the story, it teaches them the importance of family, empathy, and kindness and also gives them the opportunity to use math skills and learn a little bit about cooking just from reading the book!

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This humorous story about two piglets and their father attempting to cook a meal for their wife/mother is cute, but pretty predictable. Young elementary students would enjoy it, especially if you use it to introduce math and/or recipes.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I cannot believe ppl who know so very little about cooking would attempt this recipe. I don't like the stereotype that the mom is the only one who knows that 1/4 cup is less than 4 cups. Work with real recipes with your children yourself; there are lots of Kids Can Cook sort of books.

[Sharonneika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that Pigs in the Pantry is a great book for math and experimenting with cooking. This book can be used as a read aloud before participating in a project of making cookies from scratch in the classroom. its good for learning how to measure and it uses fractions so I would say that it could be recommended for use with 3rd grade or higher.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extra star for math integration: Measurement. Mrs. Pig is sick in bed, but her family treats her to a home-cooked meal nonetheless. We have the recipe (they're making chili) and watch to see what mistakes Mr. Pig makes as he prepares the dish. At the end are measurement conversions, an invitation to recreate the recipe in the metric system.

[Rebecca]

This book is a great demonstration of how math and science work together. some pigs have a recipe to help get rid of a cold. The recipe is included in the book. I recommend this book for 2nd-4th grades.

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, especially the illustrations! Mrs. Pig is sick, so Mr. Pig and the piglets try to make her chili. This would be a great book to use to teach the various kinds of measurement as it involves measuring out ingredients. I would use this book for first grade.

[Chenoa Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Great math tools
-Conversion to measurements
-Mrs. Pig gets sick and her husband and children try to cook......DISASTER!!!
-Good read for 1st grade to 3rd grade

[Tiffany Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these pig books! In this one, Mrs. Pig is sick, so Mr. Pig and the piglets decide to cook her some warm chili. This book would be great for teaching students about measurement!

[Timothy Cockburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

this teaching ways you are doing math while cooking. it can also be used to teach a lesson about chemical change in science.

[Amber Bartram]

This book is about a dad and the two kids cooking for their sick mom and making a mess in the kitchen. The book has a couple recipes in it and teaching things like what a "pinch" of something means. I would use this around mother's day or a holiday where kids might be cooking.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has no awards and is good for ages 4-8. This fun book revolves entirely around a five-alarm chili recipe. When the mom gets sick, she wants something to help her feel cozy and better. Her husband and children attempt to follow her recipe to make her delicious and spicy chili, but along the way make measurement errors from wrongly reading the instructions! Some of the scenes are absolutely hilarious, due to the wording and language. It has some scientific elements, such as cooking and measurement. It is extremely fantasy-based, though, with pigs talking and some extremely questionable ingredient measurements. One in class activity could be to incorporate both math and science into a lesson, such as introducing measurement. Another in class use, following the introduction to measurement lesson, could be for children to bring in a family recipe and work on converting it somehow (such as mL to L, tsp to tbsp).

[Rebecca Jones]

This is a good mentor text to use when discussing adding and subtracting measurements. I would recommend all of the pigs in the ___ stories.