Tally Cat Keeps Track (Math Is Fun!)

I do love the books by Trudy Harris and this one is helpful. If you have children who do not get tallies (a prerequisite for learning to count coins) this book will help. Other things will have to be done, too, to help the child fully understand. It might be helpful for parents who find the tallies homework a mystery.

Product was in good shape. I have not used it yet, but I teach first grade and we will use it as one of our texts as we teach graphing throughout the year.

My first graders really liked this story.

What's not to like?

This is such a cute book. My kids love it and the artwork is amazing. Your kids will love it.

Tally McNally was not only an alley cat, but he was also a "tally cat." Graffiti wasn't his thing, but a bit of tallying was. Of course he always had to come out on top and he tallied everything from the mice he caught to how many lives he'd used up. Kitty used up four, Boots had used up two, and Tally had used up eight. The bricks in his alley were covered with Tally's statistics because "He kept a tally all day long of who was right and who was wrong, / of who was tall and who was taller, / of who was small and who was smaller." He was "scratch, scratch, scritcy, scratch, scratch" not to be undone!It wouldn't be long before Stripes, Kitty, Boots, and Tom Cat would get really aggravated with his constant one upmanship. It began to rain and all the cats tried to stay under cover. Raincoats, umbrellas, came out and even Kitty spread the pages of a cat magazine over her head to keep the rain from soaking her. Poor Tom Cat got totally drenched and as he threw himself into a ratty old chair, he complained, "I'm soaked to my skin. No cat is as wet." Well, naturally Tally McNally wasn't going to have any of that and poured a bottle of water over his head. "Ten drops for you and sixteen for me / means I'm the wettest. / You'll have to agree." Soon there was a challenge and Tom Cat threw himself into a puddle, but Tally McNally, not to be outdone, accidentally was washed into a drain. "Scratch, scratch, scritcy, scratch, scratch" . . . would anyone be able to save him?This is a fabulous story of a tallying alley cat, Tally McNally, who learned the value of counting on his friends. I loved how this story easily incorporated the math concept of tallying and the value of friendship in this delightful tale. In the back of the book there is an explanation of tallying and what each line represents and how "we can keep track of more than one thing at a time." Many children don't like the fact that there always manages to be one in the crowd who feels they are better than everyone else, are smarter, and are always the best at everything. Tally is representative of that type of person, but the story very gently and tactfully shows him the error of his ways. The artwork? Well, "Scratch, scratch, scritcy, scratch, scratch," it would be mighty hard to top the adorable factor. This multifaceted book would be an excellent read and discuss book in the homeschool or classroom setting!

Trudy Harris did an excellent job to teach math in a fun way. I love the relation to multiple school subjects in one book. The back of the book gives great ways to teach kids how to tally, and there could be multiple extension activities you could use in a classroom or in your home. The illustrations are also very well done (by her son). What a great combination of two talented people from the same family.I look forward to using this book in my own classroom one day when I am a teacher.

This book is so cute. All of that cats have different personalities. There are some hidden pictures in this book that are fun to try to find. This book teaches team work. It also teaches that math can be fun by learning to tally.

This book might be useful for preschool or kindergarten students - but my son in grade 2 learned nothing at all from it. The reading level should be Pre-K - K.