Name: Balancing Act
Price: 15.3 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.8 (109 reviews)

Product Description


Two mice make a teeter-totter. They're balancing just fine, but then along comes a frog. Can they make room for one more friend on their teeter-totter? What about two? What about more? But then a big bird comes along and wants to play too. Better watch out!


From School Library Journal


PreS-K–This deceptively simple and creative book is loaded with fun. Two adorable mice create a teeter-totter using a stick balanced on a rock. A salamander joins one side, creating an imbalance, but then another one of equal weight joins the other mouse, and all is in order–until it happens again with a frog and a bird. Readers might be fooled into thinking that this is just a concept book, but Walsh gives them so much more, including a twist in the ending. Observant children will want to converse about animal and color identification, as well as why the actions and reactions of the animals are creating balances/imbalances on the teeter-totter. The delightful illustrations were done using cut-paper collage and then splattered with acrylic paints. A rock at the middle of the teeter-totter is cleverly placed in the gutter, creating eye-catching spreads with lots of white space and spare text. This book is full of wonder and can be used at storytime or one-on-one.
Anne Beier, Hendrick Hudson Free Library, Montrose, NY
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


From Booklist


The concept of balance is gently introduced by Walsh’s collage mice, reminiscent of Leo Lionni’s, who build and play on a teeter-totter made out of a stick and a rock. The game attracts more and more animals, the teeter-totter seesawing up and down with each new arrival, until it collapses beneath the weight. Small in format like her earlier Mouse Paint (1985) and Mouse Count (1991), this is just the right size for small hands and for sharing one-on-one and also offers an opportunity to talk about the different elements of the story, including cooperation, creativity, and sharing as well as basic physics and math. The clean layout—featuring a white background; large, black typeface; and colorful animals—allows young readers to focus on what’s happening, and the neat story ends satisfyingly where it began, with just two mice left, free to play with each other—and their stick and rock—once again. Preschool-Kindergarten. --Diane Foote


Review


"Reminiscent of Leo Lionni...this is just the right size for small hands and for sharing one-on-one and also offers an opportunity to talk about the different elements of the story, including cooperation, creativity, and sharing as well as basic physics and math."--
Booklist

"This deceptively simple and creative book is loaded with fun...Readers might be fooled into thinking this is just a concept book, but Walsh gives them so much more...This book is full of wonder."--
School Library Journal

"With consummate skill, Walsh tells a taunt and dynamic story while introducing some basic physical science to preschoolers...an impressive balance of composition, color, and narrative content; the spreads alternate between displays of potential energy and kinetic energy. A lively yet minimal text supports the story beautifully; there's not a word out of place."--
The Horn Book Magazine

"The textures and bright colors in the author's cut-paper illustrations pop off the pages...making it easy for young readers to focus on the mathematical concept. Tips the scales in a subject area surprisingly lacking."--
Kirkus Reviews


About the Author


Ellen Stoll Walsh has written and illustrated numerous beloved books for children, including
Balancing Act and the bestselling modern classics
Mouse Paint and
Mouse Count. She lives in upstate New York.

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