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Rating: 
Summary: Chocolate Fever, Anyone?
Review: Although Chocolate Fever is the name of a book, most children
would be DELIGHTED to contract this fever! As elementary school
teacher, I have used Hershey Bars and their wrappers to teach
fractions for years. The kids LOVE it! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this
book to parents as a primary teaching tool or as an enrichment
resource. It not uses pictures of the Hershey Bar to show several
fractions in twelfths, but explains their relationship to the whole. For example, 3/12 + 9/12= 12/12=1. On one page it shows two ways to name a fraction-- as the fraction itself and in
simplest form (reduced to lowest terms), although it doesn't
say so in exactly those words. At the end, the author shows
13/12, and says that more than one whole candy bar would be used.
I like this book because it can be easily adapted for use with
older children by including mixed numbers, writing fractions in
simplest form, and even decimals/percentages. Also, I enjoyed the
inclusion of facts and questions about The Hershey Candy Company
and the ingredients used, as well as where cacao trees grow.
This book could also be used as part of a unit about chocolate!
Buy it and enjoy the fun as you eat your Hershey Bar!
Rating: 
Summary: Cadbury's is better
Review: Cadbury's chocolate is so much better. Try it!
Rating:
Summary: Just didn't work for us
Review: First, using milk chocolate as a manipulative for which children are expected to handle and work with just is ridiculous: it melts when handled. The idea of using the real chocolate next to the book is just beyond me!Even if the book were to be used alone, I would not use it. I have given my copy away as I don't plan to use it when teaching my children. (We are homeschooling.) I found it confusing because the illustrations were fractions but not comparing it to the whole on the same page. For example, (in general as I no longer own the book), it said 3/4 and showed three pieces of the Hershey bar but not an illustration that I would have preferred which would have been the full bar on one side saying 4/4 and then the other then saying 3/4, so the reader can look back and forth to compare the different fractions to the different illustrations. This is kind of difficult to explain here but suffice it to say I read the whole book and was having trouble "getting it" and I do have a full understanding of fractions! Not wanting to confuse my children, I will use my own manipulatives such as the fraction cubes that can be used side by side. I think this is just one more in the series of the "food photo" books that are trendy right now. Just because the first one published was good does not mean all these similar "using food photo books to teach something" are good. Oh, and I am a chocolate lover so there is no anti-chocolate-bias !
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