It's All In How You Slice It! Peg and Cat: The Pizza Problem by Jennifer Oxley

"MAMMA MIA!" SAID PEG. "IT'S A PERFECT DAY FOR PIZZA!"

PEG AND CAT HAD JUST OPENED THEIR RESTAURANT FOR LUNCH.

And look who's charging in the door!

The Teens! Who better for cheesy, saucy business?

It is a good day for pizza! Peg and Cat take Jesse and Tessa's order for a whole, extra-large pizza with all the toppings. Teen Mora thinks half a pizza pie will be enough for her.

Peg and Cat have all the ingredients at hand, and the big oven is heating up nicely, But they have one problem.

"HOW CAN WE MAKE HALF A PIE?"

Peg's in a panic! She has only got pans for whole pizzas! But luckily their friend Ramone comes in with his friend Mac to offer some gems of geometry!

Ramone explains that Peg should first make a second whole pizza.

"CUT IT INTO TWO. THAT'S A HALF...

AND ANOTHER HALF.... TWO SEMI-CIRCLES!

THERE ARE TWO HALVES IN EVERY WHOLE!"

Peg is on it right away, but just then another passel of big pizza eaters come through the door.

It's the Bears, bringing their big appetites with them. Their order is for three and one-half pizzas! And then Ludwig and Zebra Guy bop in, and each orders half a pizza! Peg's head is spinning like a pizza wheel.

But Peg and Cat put their heads together and add it all up: 3 plus 1/2 plus 1/2 plus 1/2 = 4 1/2 pizzas!

PROBLEM SOLVED!

It's all in how you slice it, in Jennifer Oxley's latest mathematical picture book based on the popular PBSW television cartoon characters Peg and Cat, this time venturing into the mysteries of fractions as well as pizza geometry. Peg and Cat are perky partners in the business of preparing pizza pies, and artist Billy Aronson makes it all graphic in his jolly illustrations, in Peg + Cat: The Pizza Problem. (Candlewick Press, 2016). Now it's a perfect day for pizza... as long as nobody wants pizza by the slice! But that's a problem for another day!

Pair this book in this mathematically educational series with its companion book, Peg + Cat: The Race Car Problem.

Times Trials! Peg + Cat: The Race Car Problem by Jennifer Oxley

ONE DAY PEG AND CAT WENT TO THE JUNKYARD. ORDINARILY, THEY DIDN'T HAVE MUCH USE FOR A BUNCH OF OLD JUNK, BUT THIS WAS NOT A NORMAL DAY.

IT WAS THE DAY OF THE TALLAPEGGA 20, A REALLY BIG-DEAL RACE.

Peg, the perky pizzeria cook, and her friend, Cat, take some time off to head to the track to try out their design for what they hope will be a hot-as-a-pizza-oven race car.  But first they have to build their own racer, and to do that they have to assemble the right parts.

At least they've got the name--HOT BUTTERED LIGHTNING!

To start, they've come up with some round objects for wheels, but on the first trial run, their car loses a wheel.

No problem. There are lots of round objects in the junkyard, and a trash can lid is just the right shape and size!

But the competition looks tough!  There's the amphibious Pirate-Mobile, good on land or sea.  And then there's the Pizza-Mobile, cooked up by the Teens and fueled (natch!) by potato chips and cherry cola. But the biggest competitor looks to be Pig's Triangle-Mobile, which really looks sharp!

Peg and Cat wonder if they should just have the Hot-Buttered Lightning scratched from the time trials. But their calculating friend Ramone, won't let them quit.

"YOU NEVER SOLVE A PROBLEM BY GIVING UP!"

Peg and Cat fall behind on the first lap, but Pig has to stop for a triangular treat, a slice of pie, and they gain some laps. The always hungry Teens can't resist sneaking a few bites of their car. And the Pirate-Mobile falls a few YARRRDs behind.

So Peg and Cat keep counting up the laps and learn how to write comparative numerical statements, in Jennifer Oxley's Peg + Cat: The Race Car Problem (Candlewick Press, 2015). Based on the Emmy-winning television program, this one offers some favorite cartoon characters and a chance to review some basic math concepts. Pair this one with Oxley's Peg + Cat: The Pizza Problem, which helps Pet and Cat cope with fractions (half, quarter, eighth) of their pizzas, or Oxley's The Chicken Problem, which helps solve a multiplying chicken problem by rounding! (See review here.)