One Big Pair of Underwear

One Big Pair of Underwear 

Author: Laura Gehl
Illustrator: Tom Lightenheld
Genre: Poetry
Awards: Zolotow Award (Commended, 2015), Mathical Award (Winner, 2015)
Grades: PK-2

This book describes many different situations where one animal is left out because there are only a certain amount of things. For example, there is one pair of underwear, but two bears that want to share it. It starts off with the number one and goes all the way to number ten. At the end, they all learn to share and march in a parade.

I would use this in the classroom because it is a creative way to introduce counting numbers and subtraction. It is an easy read since it is very repetitive and has a lot of different rhyming words. The appropriate grade for this book is kindergarten since that is the age where they get exposed to numbers but can still be used up till second grade. I would use this book to teach a subtraction lesson in my class because it clearly explains or shows how one animal is always left out. I can even use this book to find rhyming words out loud during a read aloud with my students. I have seen teachers do that in the classes I observed and children really do love watching out for rhyming words. This book is an easy read as well so I would even put it in my classroom library.