Jean Cushman (1924–2011)

"We Help Mommy" is a story of young children helping their mother with daily tasks. The children help put on their own clothing and helping make mommy's bed. This story implies that all of the jobs explained in the story are things that mothers have to do. These jobs include cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children. The father goes to work in beginning of the story, not helping with any of the house work. This is typical of children's literature to have this pattern of gender roles. The illustrations in the book are drawn in color.… (més)

This book follows two boys in their discovery of the principles of probability. The author does a very good job explaining each of the different concepts around probability and has many little cartoon drawings to help with the visualizations that are needed for deeper understanding. This book is definitely geared more toward the elementary ages, probably around 4th to 7th grade due to the childlike story the book is centered around. And this book is somewhat dated, having been published in 1991. There are some dated concepts that have since the book first came transitioned toward different forms of entertainment. One example is an example of winning a tv set and shows a picture of an old tube set that the child is holding by herself. Another, that I have found to be quite a challenge in my classroom, are the examples having to do with playing cards. Kids are just unaware of the numbers involved with playing cards these days since the advancement of video games and other forms of entertainment. The book would be better if it were revised to include some of the more modern forms of kid’s entertainment.
All in all, I enjoyed the idea of using a narrative to explain and describe the different concepts of probability. It takes the concepts and makes them more concrete and more relatable than would a simple lesson in math class. If I were teaching on the elementary level, I would definitely use this book (or one more updated) to have the kids do some type of probability project, or to use as a resources for a science fair project.
Unfortunately there was no type of note about the author to show that Jean Cushman knew what she was talking about when she wrote the book. Only after careful examination can I determine if it is accurate enough and concise enough to allow the students to read on their own.… (més)