Red Riding Hood's Maths Adventure

This subtraction adventure book works well mathematically. It begins with an instruction page plus a picture of cookies to be traced and used by the readers. Little Red Riding Hood sets off to visit Granny with her basket containing 12 cookies. She meets hungry fairy-tale characters, and each time the reader is invited to decided how many cookies to give away (2, 1 or 0) using the wheel in the book and their own cookies. After some 'play' with the three options presented on each wheel, I found that children quickly interact with confidence. The book presents lots of scope for paired reading in school and supported reading at home. My 6- and 7-year-olds returned to it frequently, making different choices, appreciating the speech bubbles, text and mathematical experience. There is much humour to enjoy in the rhyming story. For observant readers, the bold, colourful illustrations reveal the growing band of followers until the story concludes at Granny's house, and, surprise! All the characters have skipped ahead to sing Happy Birthday to 7-year-old Red Riding Hood.