Kindergarten-Grade 3?Children who learned their numbers from Geisert's Pigs from 1 to 10 (Houghton, 1992) can now move on to trickier fare with the author's latest offering. If there's one thing this book has, it's pigs-MMMDCCCLXIV of them. In addition to lots of useful information about Roman numerals (such as how to subtract a smaller number if it is before a larger one, and add it if it is after), the artist creates a lively learning experience by featuring picture puzzles in which children must count the pigs to determine the value of a numeral. This process is fairly straightforward for I, V, and X, but becomes downright hilarious for L, C, D, and M. The joyful, squealing menagerie continues from page to page, adding and dropping companions in a numeric frenzy. The searches become more challenging as the book progresses, prompting readers to find (in addition to XXXVII pigs) XIX trees or XXVIII fence posts. There is plenty of visual detail for early-elementary age children to pore over, and Geisert is careful to be methodical and predictable in his examples (though he is appropriately mysterious when it comes to more involved scenes). This book might do for Roman numerals (and for pigs) what Carmen Sandiego did for geography: highlight the spontaneous humor and enjoyment in an unrightfully maligned topic.?Jennifer Fleming, Boston Public LibraryCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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