Bears Odd, Bears Even

by Harriet Ziefert, Andrea Baruffi (Illustrator)

An easy-to-read mathematics book teaches the concept of odd and even through an amusing and colorful tale of bears playing a game of basketball. Simultaneous.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, 1st Grade, Childrens, School, Number

32 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1997

About the author

Harriet Ziefert grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she attended the local schools. She graduated from Smith College, then received a Masters degree in Education from New York University.

For many years, Ziefert was an elementary school teacher. She taught most grades from kindergarten to fifth grade. "I liked it," she said, but she stopped teaching when she had her own sons. When her children were older, Ziefert wanted "a bigger arena" for her work. She went to work at a publishing company, Scholastic in New York City, developing materials for teacher's guides for kindergarten language arts and social studies programs.

"About twelve years ago," says Ziefert in a 1995 interview, "I tried to get a job as an editor, but no one would hire me as a trade editor. So I decided to write my own books." Since then, she has written several hundred books, mostly picture books and easy-to-read books. "I write books very quickly," she says, "in about twelve hours. I rewrite them three times over three days, and then they're done." She writes about twenty books a year.

Reviews

[Sadie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 We got out our counter bears and made the even numbers 2,4,6,8,10 and a separate group of odd numbers1,3,5 7,9 then read the book. Before we read the page with the rules we played around with the bears until the kids came up with the rules on their own, then we finished the book!

[Devin L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good book to help younger students become familiar with even and odd numbers.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could be very helpful with teaching young children even and odd numbers. Illustrations aren't great, and senetences are very choppy.

[Amber]

use to lead into e Menander odd numbers

[Glenn Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a good book to help young students with their numbers. The book goes through the odd and even numbers.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a counting book that can be used when students are learning about even and odd numbers.

[Jennifer]

This book is good for talking about the difference between even and odd numbers.