Peter's Pockets

by Eve Rice, Nancy Winslow Parker (Illustrator)

Peter's new pants don't have any pockets, so Uncle Nick lets Peter use his until Peter's mother solves the problem in a clever and colorful way

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is clearly dated, but I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Peter is out for a walk and starts collecting objects he finds, but then realizes his new pants don't have pockets in them. When his mom finds out, she is absolutely horrified! She quickly works to rectify the situation.

[Cole Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This very simple story describes the day of Peter with his Uncle Nick. Peter and Uncle Nick go to the park and Peter wears his brand new pants. Along the way Peter finds things like a blue feather, a button, two ribbons, and a nickle that he wants to take home, however his new pants don't have any pockets! Uncle Nick tells Peter that he can borrow his pockets to hold all the cool stuff, but once they get home, Peter immediately tells his mom that there is a problem with his pants.

These colorful illustration are drawn using color pencils. I believe the choice of using an everyday tool of colored pencils to illustrate the book really adds to the simplicity of the story. It shows the reader that there is not much past what the words are telling you and these boxed pictures just add color to the book. It is a great book for kids just barley learning how to read.

[Janice Redding · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books. This book is about a little boy who has a new pair of pants, and goes on a fishing trip with his uncle. Along the way, he finds treasures and decides to put them in his pocket; but his pants were made without pockets. Therefore, he had to put his little trinkets in his uncle's pockets. This is a great book for first grade. As a teacher, I can use this book by asking the students to put a unifix cube in each of their pockets, and have them count the number of their pockets. This could be done in a small group. Then, the students in that small group can add their unifix cubes together by making trains of 10. It is a great lesson to get the students differentiating between tens and ones; therefore, it helps with place value.

[Brittani Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was about a boy who loved his new pants but had no pockets. His mother mother helps him and he is able to collect things. I liked it because he was able to add things that he liked once he got the pockets. He had so many things, that he recycled them and was able to make pockets.

Add the things that he collected and see what pockets were made from them. It can turn into an activity.(less)

[Jessica Vu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great math book that can be used for 1st grade. Students can count (add up) their pockets, count pockets in small groups and add up the whole class. A graph can also be created to compare the class.
You can also take this a step further and compare which pockets are larger/small and which can hold more/less.
Counting large collections of numbers

[Ashley Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book that could be used in the first grade to start a math lesson. We could count the pockets or the things that he put in the pockets. I could ask questions like how many pockets are in this class room or who has the most pockets on their clothes in the class. Once we know how many pockets each student has we could make a graph of the data.

[Hatka Kecalovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book can be used for a math lesson on numbers, data charts, counting, one-to-one correspondents. This book can be used to introduce a lesson on one-to-one correspondents by having students place manipulatives or coins into their pockets. This book can also be used for a lesson on grouping. This book can be used in Pre-K to 3 grade classrooms.

[Lauren Owens · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about a little boy who stuffs his pockets with items he obtains during the day. It leads nicely into manipulating numbers and a greater or less than lesson. Having students compare the amount of pockets they have with others directly relates to this book and is a fun activity to engage students in.
Recommended grade level: K-2.

[Sarwat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This could be a good book to teach counting (their pockets), in small groups and add them up together as a whole class. A graph can also be created to compare the class. This book would be a good one for PreK-1st grade, and the activites can be extended for compare numbers (greater than, less than, or equal to), operations and algebraic thinking by incorporating word problems as well.

[Bjordan5 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was about a boy who loved his new pants but had no pockets. His mother mother helps him and he is able to collect things. I liked it because he was able to add things that he liked once he got the pockets. He had so many things, that he recycled them and was able to make pockets.

Add the things that he collected and see what pockets were made from them. It can turn into an activity.

[Whitney Bailey]

Great book to use for math and can help with teaching: addition, subtraction, and using objects for place counting.

Teacher could have students actually use buttons to manipulate how many buttons Peter had at the end of the book.

Teacher could also make something that has pockets on it for students to be able to count and subtract in order to solve Peter's problem.

[Renae Williams]

I would use this book and do some sort of pocket activity, such as having children count how many pockets they have (math). Also children can create their own pocket and put in items that are special, great for the first weeks of school.

[Caroline Barnett]

I used this book in a first grade class to kick off a math lesson. I read the book to the class then we counted all the pockets in our class by using counters (one per pocket). The students made a graph recording the data we found and interpreted the graph.

[Abi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about a little boy who receives a pair of pants with no pockets, until his mother solves his problem and makes pockets for his pants. This could be used as a math lesson where we count the number of pockets in the class and graph them.

[Noel Echols]

number sense
division

Peter's mother helps create pockets on his pants so he can have a place to carry all of his treasures

[Michael D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for introducing young students to basic number operations.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute story and nice illustrations.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd be surprised if a kid Peter's age would even be caught dead in homemade pants like that. How times have changed, eh?