Mike's Mystery

"Mike and two friends set themselves the goal of collecting 29 books for a donation drive in order to help their class win a pizza party. As they work on their project, they subtract the number of titles they have so far from the number they need. The math problems appear in numerals, in boxes, and an additional subtraction activity is included in the back matter. The colorful, average-quality illustrations depict an enthusiastic cast. In Farmer, Troy grows sunflowers, with his mother as guide. Fact boxes with additional information appear throughout. A time line of the life cycle of the plant and directions for growing the flowers are included. The illustrations are bright, colorful, and descriptive, although the cartoon characters have exaggerated facial features. Both titles have tips for adults on sharing content-focused books with children and should be useful additions to beginning-reader collections."