School Library Journal Starred Review

K-Gr 3 The king of the jungle has a small party every year for his closest friends, even though they are greedy and ill-mannered. The lion graciously passes cake to the elephant, telling him to help himself. The elephant takes half. Each animal in turn takes half of what is passed, leaving only a crumb for the ant to share with the king. Instead, the ant says that he will bake the king a fresh cake in the morning. Each animal then ups the ante by doubling the previous offer, culminating with the elephant committing himself to baking 256. This mouthwatering tale of division and multiplication will delight young readers as they imagine a palace full of cakes. The captivating ink and watercolor illustrations, enhanced with digital techniques, continually reinforce the mathematical theme with humor and detail. Many layouts effectively present a graphic display of the simple fraction concepts. The results are terrific. Because young readers will relish the absurdity of the story, it will hold up to repeated readings to reinforce math instruction. Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, ME

ALA Booklist (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Set on the savannah, this original animal fable weaves math exercises into a story about sharing. At an elegant dinner hosted by the lion king, a tiny ant is appalled at the poor manners of her fellow animal guests, who arrive late, throw food, and talk only about themselves. Dessert is even worse. The elephant takes half the cake for himself, and each guest, following his greedy lead, takes half of the remaining portions until only a tiny crumb is left for the ant and the lion. Mortified, the ant offers to bake a new cake for the lion. Then the beetle offers to bake two cakes, and a round of one-upmanship (and math practice) ensues: each animal offers double the number of cakes proposed by the previous guest. McElligott's digitally touched ink-and-watercolor artwork combines expressive animal characters with clear groupings of objects that illustrate the embedded arithmetic exercises. While the story will find an obvious place in early elementary math or character education units, the lively illustrations amplify the story's slapstick humor and will easily entertain story hour crowds.

Horn Book

At the lion's dinner party, greedy guests gobble up the cake, each snatching half of what's left. An ant, embarrassed to have only a tiny crumb to share with her host, offers to bake another cake. Not to be outdone, each guest, in turn, doubles the offer. Eye-catching watercolor, ink, and digital illustrations of jungle animals with 'tude complement the math-and-manners tale.

Kirkus Reviews (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Basic math is inescapable, even at dinner parties with the lion king. At this royal meal, the elephant takes half the cake before passing it along, the hippo takes half of that, and so on. When the cake finally reaches the ant, she struggles to cut the tiny remaining slice in two—one for her, one for the king—but it just crumbles to pieces. Mortified, she vows to bake the king a strawberry sponge cake. The other, ruder, animals, not to be outdone, each double the ant's offering... crescendoing to the elephant's hard-to-swallow pledge of 256 peanut-butter pound cakes. In addition to witnessing the occasional price of boorishness, young readers will easily grasp how fast things disappear when repeatedly halved, and how quickly numbers add up when doubled. A divided-up cake on the endpapers illustrates fractions from one to 1/128, and the o'er-hasty cake-doublings are displayed in countable cake form, from one to 256. The handsome watercolor-and-ink illustrations are as gently funny as the story, and the heavily partitioned design well suits the math lesson at hand. (Picture book. 6-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

McElligott (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Absolutely Not) is a triple threat: a sturdy storyteller, a stylish draftsman and a thoughtful wit who makes math funny. Eight animal guests devour the cake served at the lion's royal feast, each taking half of what's on the plate as it is passed; by the time it reaches the lion king, his portion has been reduced to crumbs. The virtuous ant volunteers to make amends by baking a cake, whereupon the others, anxious not to be shown up, successively double her offer, finally reaching a bid of 256 peanut-butter pound cakes from the elephant (McElligott lays out all 256 as a visual aid). The math content enriches the story but doesn't overshadow the hero, the gentle and considerate ant. Grids and square panels of diminishing size used as design elements reinforce the content and are attractive in their own right; subtle grids can be found within the compositions as well. Able characterizations multiply the laughs; the gorilla, in sunglasses, looks a lot like Jack Nicholson. Ages 4–8. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Feb.)