Book Review: The Great Graph Contest

Is there an elementary school teacher on your holiday shopping list? If so, check out Loreen Leedy’s The Great Graph Contest!

This picture book features Gonk (a toad) and Beezy (a lizard) as they compete to create the best* graphs of their garden home. Over the course of the book, the friends collect observational and interview data and then create 11 different examples of graphs, including unit charts, bar graphs, Venn diagrams, and pie charts:

I think this book would be awesome inspiration for young students about to undertake a graphing project. The featured graphs are really creative, and all of them would be fairly simple to recreate using basic art materials.

Who won the Great Graph Contest? I won’t spoil the ending…but, personally, I think everyone’s a winner when we combine data and art! :)

*Chester, the snail judging the contest, defines quality as being mathematically correct, creative, and neat. Smart snail!