Eating Fractions

by Bruce McMillan

Eating Fractions by McMillan, Bruce

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens, Food, School, Number

Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my first grade class. They loved it.

[Bekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eating Fractions by Bruce McMillan teaches children about fractions. Throughout the story, the concept of a whole is demonstrated through different foods, like a banana, corn, or pizza. Then the foods are cut to demonstrate what halves, thirds, or quarters look like. The illustrations show the whole, then the halves, or the whole, and then the thirds or the quarters. At the end, the dog gets the leftovers.

I give this story 3/5 stars. It is good for children to learn about fractions, but it was a little boring, it could have been made a little more interesting. I did like the illustrations of the food and the kids laughing throughout the story made it fun. Kids will probably be hungry after reading this story.

[Lexi Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book 3 stars because while it was informational for children it was kind of boring. They only do halves, thirds, and fourths where I feel they could have kept going.

Overall, this book is great for young kids learning fractions etc, the pictures are what is really going to help the kids learn. It is very simple and there is only one word on each page so it's not very overwhelming to children.

[Alicia Tavernier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a math-based book for elementary. This book allows children to see math in a fun way and help them to understand the concepts more. I believe this book would be very essential in the classroom. The illustrations are bright and easy to detect each picture. I gave this book 5 stars out of 5 stars because of the educational aspect, illustrations and the activities that you can extend from this book.

[Enrique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very easy book to keep along with having very little amount of actual text and more about being focused on the pictures not illustrations of the book. The illustrations and small subheading for each picture make it very easy to see what the fraction is that is being talked about in each picture such as a whole, halves, thirds, and fourths. This book I would use with children of 1st grade up to 4th grade just because of the help it can give when teaching fractions.

[Cyndi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very helpful in explaining wholes, half, thirds and quarters. When followed up with snack time and cutting things into these fractions, the concept was easily understood by two four-year olds. I loved it and it will be my go to book when introducing this math concept.

[Andria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starting to look dated with hair and furnishings.

[Adriana Palencia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy and simple book. This is an excellent book to help introduce fractions. The pictures and the texts are both large and direct. It uses real images to represent fractions with real food.

[Herold Homeschool · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really basic could have used more information but the recipes at the end make up for the lack of information

[Jess Hedgecock · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. Characters, setting, plot, etc.: The two children are in their kitchen in the book, while going through meals and showing images of how their food could be cut into different fractions. The idea of the book is to show readers that fractions and math components are not scary, and that you probably run into math more than what you think as a child.
2. Literary or artistic elements: The book has very few words in it. The artistic elements are photographs of the particular food items.
3. Rating on the book: I gave this book a three out of five stars because of its content. The content is helpful with the images and just the bolded words below it showing what fraction the food is. I believe students would pick it up, but it is a little dated. I feel like it looks older and students nowadays could recognize that.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a teacher, I have owned this cute book that takes one thing children love ~ eating and uses it to teach about fractions. It starts with two children sharing a banana and showing it cut first whole and then cut into half. What easier way to show children how we use fractions everyday than with cooking. The book covers 1/2 with the banana and an ear of corn, 1/3 with a roll and a pear dessert made with a round jello mold, 1/4 with a small pizza and a yummy fresh strawberry cake. At the end of the book the author gives the recipes for four of the items in the book.

In writing this review, I am disclosing the entire content of the book because I want to talk about all the different lessons besides fractions that can be started with this simple book. First and most obvious is learning about fractions. Second, by cook with children you can give them experiences in measuring and cutting the fractions and they will retain lessons learned by active participation than just by reading the book. Working with your own children in the kitchen you are showing them interest in being a parent as a teacher, which gives them a good example to follow as they mature. Using the illustrations to show children how simple it is to cook corn on the cob (personal hint: add a tablespoon of milk for sweeter corn every time). The book also gives your a chance to talk about using a knife safely and supervising young children with a knife. (For very young children we peeled the banana first for safety and used a table knife rather than a sharp one.)

Eating Fractions gives the adult using it a variety of things to do with children to get the lesson about fractions and spin into other learning situations.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extremely simple math concept book that introduces fractions and cooking to kindergarten-aged children. My son has been borrowing math concept books from his school library in Japanese, and I found this in English to match his interest.

The premise of this book is simple- two kids eating various foods and figuring out how to share them, by dividing them in halves, thirds, and fourths. There are only a few words on each page- which definitely agrees with my first grader! It is not by any means a book to help kids who are actually learning fractions at school in Grade 2 or 3, just a basic introduction.

The colours are bright and there are a variety of foods, mostly in the dessert category, and they are all vegetarian-friendly. The appendix gives recipes for all as well as ideas on how to involve the kids while cooking so they can see fractions at work (with half teaspoons etc.), which is very helpful.

The book has a mix of basic illustrations and photographs. This is an early 90s book and the photographs are dated. I think that might be a minus for some but I quite enjoyed it, as it reminds me of my childhood (and yes, I had a haircut exactly like one of the two kids!). I really like that the boy is wearing pink. I doubt that would happen in a book produced in this day and age. Sometimes we are not always moving forward.

The other part which might be a minus is that one of the foods, a Wiggle Pear Salad, looks absolutely disgusting. But that makes it hilarious to my kids. So I'll knock another one into the plus column.

[Samantha Sheeran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eating Fractions by Bruce McMillan is a picture book that explains fractions through food and eating the food.

The first fraction discussed is a whole, and the illustration is a picture that shows one whole banana in the foreground with two boys in the background. The next picture shows the banana being cut into two pieces, and on the proceeding page it shows the whole banana in halves and the two boys each eating a half. I think this is a great way to explain the fractions whole and halves. The pictures go right along with the idea by showing two boys each eating two parts of the whole banana. The next fraction, thirds, does a great job also. However, the next fraction depicted, fourths, could be a little confusing for children. The whole pizza is cut into fourths and then only two boys are shown eating the pizza. To make it less confusing it would have been better if maybe four boys were hown eating the the pizza that was cut into fourths. The same things with the fraction of thirds. The pictures showed the boys having fun with math and enjoying their food. The concept of fractions, for the most part, is easy to understand. Overall I enjoyed this book and thought it was a good way to demonstrate to children that fractions can be fun and delicious.

[Matt Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concept Book
This is a very short, but informative book. The concept is very appealing to kids. I believe kids would learn a lot about fractions from this book if they are just learning about fractions. The pictures serve as great learning tools and gives them something they will remember because they can relate to it. Every kid has fun with food and this books shows the kids laughing and smiling while cutting their food in to fractions. This is something parents or teachers can demonstarte with the kids in the classroom or at home. My only criticism would be that it is a little outdated. The book is from 1991 and some of the foods, the kids might not know like the pear salad. I do like how Bruce McMillan put the recipes for each of the foods in the back.

The pictures are very detailed and clear for what the author is trying to show. The food may not look the same to the kids. For example I think that kids' idea of pizza is a lot diferent than what it looks like in the book. That aside, the pictures explain exactly what the author is trying to teach.

[Jordon Worley · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Eating Fractions" is a very simple book that uses photos to illustrate the concept of various fractions (whole, half, thirds, and fourths). The illustrations in this book are real photos taken of two children and the food that they ate. I love how the photos are large and the colors are bright, as well as the fact that the children seem to be enjoying themselves. However, I did not like the book in general. I think it would be appropriate for young children just beginning to understand fractions, possibly in the first grade. I think the book is much too simple and I think it would have been better if it had a story to go along with it, or even went into higher fractions (eights or sixteenths). The fact that it only went to fourths and then repeated itself was a disappointment. I was hoping I could use this one day for teaching math in my classroom, but after reading it I think I will need to search for another book about fractions.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like 'Eating Fractions' does a really nice job introducing students to fractions. I am a math person and, I was looking forward to seeing how Bruce McMillan was going to go about making fractions a more interesting subject. Many kids can get easily confused with fractions and this story created many real life events where fractions could come up. I really liked the photography used for the illustrations in this book; the photography allowed for students to really be able to see how fractions show up in their daily lives. It was also a nice choice by the author to use food as the main subject. Two friends were always splitting up their snacks into various equal parts which could easily be seen from the pictures showing the food in several parts. Math is one of those subjects where it can be hard to make interesting for students but, this story does a good job getting students to really stop and think and enjoy what they're learning without really realizing it.

[Olivia Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an informative book about fractions. It uses real life pictures which I think helps the student connect to the book. It involves real life food that the students are familiar with. With the many connections that they students make, they learn how fractions look in part of a whole: halves, thirds, fourths, etc.

I think a fun activity to do would be to have a Eating Fractions Party. The teacher could bring in the food mentioned in the book and have them piece the food up into fractions. Students would play as judges and the teacher would cut the food into the fractions desired. Then the students could record all the fractions that entered the contest. After the work is been done, the students could eat and be merry! The take a vote on what was their favorite. Then make fractions from the votes.

[Lucy Pruner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short picture book that goes over what a whole, half, third, and fourths look like. They show examples with bananas, pizza, muffins, corn, etc. The best part is at the end when they share a fourth of the pie with their adorable doggy. Although I know that is not the main concept for this book, it is still a cute add in for the children. For adults, I really liked how there were a few recipes at the end. The age group I would say for this story would be K-2nd grade. These fractions and examples are very easy to follow along with and understand. If some students are struggling with fractions, you could always refer back to this story to give them some pointers. Although I enjoyed the concept of the book, I feel like I would choose another book to teach and introduce my kids to fractions. That is why I gave it a 3/5.

[Ashley Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first got this book I was not sure what it was going to be about. I can honestly say that I liked it after "reading" it. I really liked how the book used pictures of everyday objects to show how to split a fraction into halves, thirds, and fourths. Though it had very little words in it, I think that a child who needs help with identifying fractions will get alot of the book. It could be used as a great reference for students who are struggling with fractions. Not too complex I think that students from first grade to fifth grade can use the book to regognize and cut fractions. With the simple pictures of just the two boys eating sharing and eating the foods, I think that students will really remember the concepts that are meant to be taught.

[Emilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

McMillan, Bruce. Eating Fractions. New York: Scholastic, 1991.

*Concept book

- A concept book about 2 children who cook and divide food into halves, thirds, and fourths. Recipes for the foods eaten are also included.

Themes
-cooking
-fractions

Activities to use with children
-Have children fold construction paper cut out in the shape of a banana, pizza, muffin, and corn on the cob into equal shares as you read the book. They can then cut them on the line and match the equal shares.
-Create a fraction snack from one of the recipes in the back. Discuss how the snack should be divided for everyone to get a fair share

[Jenna Sommerkamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bruce McMillan's book Eating Fractions is a book for students to learn about fractions through food. The book illustrates the fractions by breaking whole foods that students would recognize into different parts. The illustrations are good as they demonstrate young children breaking the whole parts into halves, thirds, and fourths and sharing with their family and/or friends. This book would be recommended for grades 3-5 when learning or reviewing fractions. The book could be used and incorporated into a classroom lesson by having the students practice hands on with foods or objects to help them grasp a better understanding of the basic concept of fractions.

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not that impressed with this concept book because it only addressed whole, halves, thirds and fourths repeatatively. I think this book would be boring for children because they show the same example except with different foods in each picture. I did like how food was used because it relates to real life examples and shows children that they can cut their food into pieces and still make them equal to share with a friend like the book displays. Overall I think the book was alright but it is not one that I would use in my future classroom.

[Kathryn Sublett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Students will be able to make text to self connections as they read this book. Fractions are represented by different types of food that most students will recognize. Teachers could use graham crackers, Hershey chocolate bars, or pie to show different parts of a whole and get students to start making connections among fractions. My third grade students created an ice cream sundae to represent fractions. The different types of ice cream and toppings represented the different parts to make up the whole sundae.

[Asheley Frazier]

This book describes fractions with food. It breaks whole foods up into different parts and shows a picture and a word that describes the amount of parts it takes to make a whole. I love the real world examples that have been used to explain the part to whole relationship. This book is great for 3rd-5th grade. A small group lesson that could be conducted using this book, is to bring different foods into the class or take the students on a field trip to a pizza restaurant and have the students split the food into equal parts and ask for the fraction of food they would like.

[Kelly Powell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book shows pictures of real life fractions as well as the mathematical numerical fraction that coincides with the picture. This book helps young learners understand the meaning behind the number of fractions. I would use this book to introduce fractions and then use the example in the pictures to then demonstrate their learning. I like this book for the photographs showing real life examples of fractions. I also like the use of repetition of the same fraction represented or written in different ways with different denominators.

[Bridget]

Fractions is a concept that is difficult for young students to master and comprehend. With the help of Eating Fractions, children are able to relate the concept of fractions to real life objects. With full color photographs, children see other real children sorting foods into halves, thirds, and forths. Starting with larger fractions and advancing towards smaller fractions, students can use this picture book to sort their food into fractions and practice this math skill.

[Taylor Wyndham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good visual for kids to see the acutal food being divided into a fraction. It helps to show fractions in a different way than just in mathmatical units but also everyday foods. The book also appeals to all races with having a white child and a black child in the pictures. Also it is good for teaching because the actual resipces are in the back of the book so you can make the food for the kids to do the same.

[Katie O'Toole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would do a similar activity with this book as with Gator Pie. I would have fake food manipulatives on felt paper and have each item be able to split into fractional pieces and come together as a whole. I would then put an answer on the board such as "one half, two fourths, and three eighths" and have students figure out how many ways they can create that combination in groups with different food manipulatives.

[Carina Windom · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book did not have the best story line, but it could still be used in terms of measuring and or fractions. Because I like to eat, I would probably use one of the recipes that are at the back of the book to have the whole class either literally make the item, or have cut-outs for each of the items so that they could place it on a "grocery list" and specify how many they would need of each, or how much, etc.

[Dana Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked how the book used pictures of everyday objects to show how to split a fraction into halves, thirds, and fourths. Not too complex, I think that students from first grade to fifth grade can use the book to recognize and cut fractions. With the simple pictures of just the two boys eating, sharing , I think that students will really remember the concepts that are meant to be taught. Connection to real-life experiences.