Clean Up, Up, Up!

by Ellen Mayer, Ying-Hwa Hu (Illustrator)

It is cleanup time, and Daddy and his little one are putting away books, blocks, teddy bears, and train cars, washing hands, and preparing for dinner all while having fun with math! As Daddy talks with his toddler, he uses spatial-relationship math words and phrases like up, down, inside, outside, next to, and under to reinforce his young learner's understanding. When it is dinnertime, the little one proudly demonstrates an understanding of down when helping to set the table and up while enjoying the first delicious bite!

A playful story that models engaging conversations between parent and child, Clean Up, Up, Up! includes a note by early childhood education expert Susan C. Levine that shows parents and caregivers how everyday activities offer rich opportunities to teach early spatial math concepts.

This book is based on work supported in part by TERC under a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation.

Genres: Picture Books

20 pages, Hardcover

Published September 14, 2018

Reviews

[Chinook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like seeing a book where a father is participating in domestic tasks with his child. That’s still relatively rare in toddler and baby books. It’s a nicely diverse family and it addresses helping clean up and spatial concepts. Maddie (2) really enjoyed it and even Kait (4) was interested.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two versions of this book, one with English only and one with both English and Spanish. I read the dual book and as Spanish is not a language that I would be learning, I would have preferred the English only version. I found there was a lot of text and it was a bit distracting. This story features a father/child relationship cleaning up and performing other daily tasks. Each two page spread offers simple language and key words involving position and/or location. Repeated reading of this book would help the child to learn these concepts as well as the idea that cleaning up is an expectation and normal part of life (some children are never taught to clean up). I enjoyed the use of BOLDFACE text for the short words or phrases that will urge children to echo or chime in with the reading. The illustrations are wonderful. They are bright, realistic and full of detail. There is a note to parents and caregivers sharing how everyday activities offer rich opportunities to teach early spatial math concepts. As a retired teacher, I can not stress the importance of using those teachable moments enough. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book to read upon request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cute picture book about cleaning up after you are done playing with your things. THere is a place for everything and everything in its place.

I like that it is the dad helping the kid.

I like that it is in both Spanish and English.

I like that the dad relates with the child while cleaning



A good way to show how normal cleaning up is.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 2 year old grandson already owns all of Ellen Mayer's board books and often pulls them from his crowded book shelf and asks to hear them again. This latest is a great match for his phase of language acquisition–he's started using prepositions and directional/positional phrases in his conversation. After he listened to this new book at a store, I asked if we should bring it home, and he said "Yes!!" Later, when I read it to him, he pointed at the pictures and repeated words enthusiastically. The book is a perfect mixture of teaching and fun for toddlers.

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This board book features a father/child relationship, sharing cleaning up and other daily tasks. Each spread offers simple language and key words involving position and location. Although entirely situational/concept directed, the scenes are appealing and could spark replication in real life. the message to adults is valuable and valid. There are two text-dense pages at the front of the book, addressed to parents and caregivers. I would have rather seen theses placed at the back matter. As a board book this could stand alone in its appeal to tots and toddlers more if the opening pages were directed at the child.
There are a few of the concrete terms for location and position that occur later in the text in figurative language, so repeated readings allow for expanding a sense of our complex language. ("Wash up-up-up." is not literal, even though the child is shown standing on a stool to reach the sink, making a great way to explore and compare.) I enjoyed the use of BOLDFACE text for the short words or phrases that will urge children to echo or chime in with the reading.
The final pages reveal a mixed race family, so a variety of skin ones among the family members is normalized without comment.

[Storywraps · Rating 5 out of 5]

A loving daddy and his little one, through everyday conversation, explore spatial relationships as they relate to his little one's world.

It's tidy up time and as Daddy helps his tot clean up, up, up he introduces his toddler to math words and phrases: books go up on the top shelf, stuffed bears go back inside their house for a nap, and a rogue caboose that is stuck back behind a chair needs to go under the bed where it belongs. After all that hard work it's time to wash up up up for dinner and eat Mommy's great cooking. Up, up, up goes the spoon many, many times causing the corner of everyone's mouth to do the same. Yum! Delicious!

This book includes a note from early childhood education expert Susan C. Levine that shows parents and caregivers how everyday activities offer rich opportunities to teach early spatial math concepts. This book is based on work supported in part by TERC under a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation.

[Storywraps · Rating 5 out of 5]

A loving daddy and his little one, through everyday conversation, explore spatial relationships as they relate to his little one's world.

It's tidy up time and as Daddy helps his tot clean up, up, up he introduces his toddler to math words and phrases: books go up on the top shelf, stuffed bears go back inside their house for a nap, and a rogue caboose that is stuck back behind a chair needs to go under the bed where it belongs. After all that hard work it's time to wash up up up for dinner and eat Mommy's great cooking. Up, up, up goes the spoon many, many times causing the corner of everyone's mouth to do the same. Yum! Delicious!

This book includes a note from early childhood education expert Susan C. Levine that shows parents and caregivers how everyday activities offer rich opportunities to teach early spatial math concepts. This book is based on work supported in part by TERC under a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked about the book was how joyous the boy looked with his dad as they cleaned up. Hopefully this inspires: more dads to read with their kids, toddlers to learn to clean up (is that wishing too much?), domestic activities to be shared. I appreciated the interracial couple and the family sitting down at the end to eat dinner together. It's also nice that it's in English and Spanish, and that the Spanish comes first. At the last page, though, I felt like there shoulder been more closure. Then I remembered that this is a book for children and was plenty long.

Overall, it's a nice book with different levels of messages that only add to both child and parent enjoyment of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Muriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clean Up, Up, Up! walks the reader through observing a little boy cleaning up his room with his dad help. He finds his train, puts away his teddy bears, and washes up for dinner. The sentences are basic and easy for toddlers to understand and relate to. The pages narrate the tidying process with the boy answering in 4-word or fewer replies with up usually being the last word. In addition to the English on the page, the short story is first told in Spanish. The illustrations are bright and colorful dreamlike watercolors. This book would be best for a 1-3 year olds.

Note: I was allowed an advance copy of this book to review. In no way did that affect my opinions.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clean Up, Up, Up! (Board Book)
by Ellen Mayer
A father starts a game for cleaning for his young daughter, the rhyme becomes a connection between the two, its a great multicultural perspective a normal family problem with young children.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the pictures in this book. So cute and colorful and really fit the story well. I love that the dad was involved with the clean-up routine as usually they use the mother.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great way to share with little ones that books can be about then. In both Spanish and English, this board book goes through clean up to dinner with the child smiling all the way. I especially enjoy the illustrations of the father guiding the little one, and he's smiling all the way, too!

[Kirsti Call · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darling!

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daddy teaches Baby to clean up using spacial-relationship words.

[R. L. Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice Little evening routine book!

[sweet orange books · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept of this book is great, a dad helps his kid clean up his room, but the final execution is not working. The text and the illustrations don't match, which means that when they talk about putting the cubes down below the books, the dad and the kid are actually on the ground taking care of the train. Then, when they talk about bringing the teddy bears inside of the house, the teddy bears are already inside. The balls have been moved to the basket with no mention of it. In the end, the kid is supposed to help his parents set up the table by putting his spoon down, but there is no actual gesture of it in the illustration.

It is really unfortunate that the connection between text and illustrations was so unsuccessful, as it could have been a good book.. It is not usable for kids as it is.

Thank you NetGalley and Star Bright Books for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Read and reviewed: 2018-12-06

[Jen Solak · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept of this book was a good one, teaching children directionals. It was awesome that the book includes the story in English and Spanish. However, the book falls short when it comes to being useful for kids to learn these directions because the (beautiful) artwork doesn’t make it clear what object is being talked about to make it easy enough to see the under, next to, in or over.

[R.A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was cute! Little readers would really enjoy this simple story about cleaning up... and the pictures would definitely interest them!

**I received a copy of this book from its publisher on NetGalley in exchange for my honest review**

[Sally Wilsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great way to teach young children to clean up and up, down and under. Daddy is helping his son to clean up his room before dinner. They put books on the top shelf of the bookcase, trains down under the bed, and bears to take nap in the toy house. Then it is time for dinner and wash hands. Nicely illustrated and written in both English and Spanish this is a great book for 2-4 yr olds.
I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH! I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
A Dad goes through the positional words with his young child as they help each other put away toys for the evening. The thought to have the story in Spanish on one page along side the English is a wonderful way to introduce another language or support a first language.

[Elizabeth]

I like all the prepositions in the book, the fact that there's a father interacting with the child, and the father and daughter being Black. I just wish there would be a book where the entire family was Black, instead of always having at least one white parent, creating a biracial child.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is simple, and would make a great story time book because of all the action books that you could get the audience to participate in. However, i hate the illustrations. They look like color blobs with no definition. I like the dual languages. I hate the not from the doctor at the beginning telling parents how to use this book with their kids, and why they should read it. Ugggg enough already.

[Ms. Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magical and whimsical book for children that adds fun to completing house chores!
Thumb through the pages quick ly or take your time. It's colorful and mid-level reading level and it's an enjoyable read for the family! If you'd like your young ones, pre-k and kindergarten to read a simple story about cleaning up their toys, arranging their clothes or just simply making the house tidy, then this is the book for you!