The Children’s Book Review | August 17, 2016
Peg + Cat: The Lemonade Problem
Written by Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson
Age Range: 4 and up
Hardback: 31 pages
Publisher: Candlewick Entertainment (2017)
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9436-4
What to expect: Math, animals, friendship, PBS characters
Peg + Cat is an enormously popular show on PBS, featuring a fun orange-haired girl named Peg and her helpful, math-savvy cat named Cat. Together they solve their world’s problems with a dose of fun, and a lot of brain-building math activities. In THE LEMONADE PROBLEM, Peg and her cat learn that lemonade stands can be fun, but they require some nifty problem-solving skills.
Peg decides to have a lemonade stand, and her price for a cup of lemonade is ten marbles. At first she has a problem attracting customers, so she lowers her price. Eventually she lowers the price enough to bring in the local teens for a deliciously refreshing cup, but there’s one problem: she’s all out of cups! Cat goes on a silly adventure to trade around cookies to finally get enough cups. But can he master the concept of greater than and less than and return with the right amount of cups before rain clouds spell disaster and ruin their lemonade stand?
This is an excellent book for preschoolers, kindergartners and early elementary school children. The mathematical concepts are woven in to the story easily, and children won’t even realize they’re helping solve Peg’s math problem. What I found most exciting about the book were the illustrations. Just like in the show, Peg and Cat live in a graph-paper world where outlines of erased formulas float in the background. Even the blue clouds in the sky are made of infinity symbols! Another cute feature are the page numbers. Instead of regular page numbers, each number is a math equation that produces the page number as an answer. It’s absolutely delightful!
This sweet duo will capture the hearts of small children with their silly antics and colorful world.
Highly recommended.
Available Here:
About the Authors
Peg + Cat is the Emmy Award–winning animated TV series created by Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson and produced by The Fred Rogers Company. It was named best new preschool series at the 2015 Kidscreen Awards.
Peg + Cat: The Lemonade Problem was reviewed by Denise Mealy. Discover more books like Peg + Cat: The Lemonade Problem by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with Animals, Billy Aronson, Cats, Friendship, Jennifer Oxley, and Picture Book.
