One Hundred Hungry Ants

Elinor J. Pinczes

Sep 1999 · Sold by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

About this ebook

This tale of ants parading toward a picnic is “one of those rare gems capable of entertaining while it instructs” (Middlesex News).
 
One hundred hungry ants march off single file to sample a picnic, but when the going gets too slow, they divide into two rows of fifty, then four rows of twenty-five . . . until they take so long that the picnic is gone!
 
“The unexpected pairing of sophisticated art and light-hearted text lends this book particular distinction.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“The illustrations . . . use a pleasing palette and energetic lines to depict ants with highly individual characters.” —Horn Book

Ratings and reviews

This book, written by a grandmother for her grandchild, helps students explore the operation of multiplication (and division). It tells the tale of 100 ants on a trip to a picnic. In an attempt to speed their travel, the ants move from their single-file line of 100 to two rows of 50, four rows of 25, and so forth. This story uses the visual representation of arrays to explore several options for a group of 100 ants. Students can be given different sizes of ant groups to explore other groupings.

Hi dee ho! It's off to a picnic we go! One hundred very hungry ants hurry to sample the delights of a nearby picnic, but marching single file seems too slow for 100 empty tummies. One enterprising ant suggests they travel in two rows of 50, four rows of 25... and the division degins. Walking in rows may not hasten the ants' progress, but reading One Hundred Hungry Ants is an entertaining way to help children understand the principles of division - and even teach them how to make change for a dollar. Filled with Pinczes's lively marching verses and MacKain's whimsical art, One Hundred Hungry Ants will entice any child with a love of rhyme, picnics, and bugs (even if they don't love math).

About the author

Elinor Pinczes and Randall Enos have collaborated together on another book for children, My Full Moon Is Square. Ms. Pinczes is the author of several other books for young readers. She lives with her husband in Bozeman, Montana. Mr. Enos's illustrations have appeared in books, magazines, and newspapers for more than forty-five years. He lives in Easton, Connecticut, with his wife.