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Summary
Author Notes
Children's writer Bill Martin, Jr. was born and raised in Hiawatha, Kansas. Ironically, the future early childhood educator had difficulty reading until he taught himself, before graduating with a teaching certificate from Emporia State University.
After graduation, he taught high school drama and journalism in Kansas. He served in the Army Air Force as a newspaper editor during World War II. He wrote his first book, The Little Squeegy Bug, for his brother, Bernard, an artist, to illustrate while recuperating from war wounds. It was published in 1945 and the brothers would go on to collaborate on 10 more books by 1955.
He earned a master's degree and doctorate in early childhood education from Northwestern University and became principal of an elementary school in Evanston, Ill., where he developed innovative reading programs. In 1962 Martin moved to New York City to become editor of the school division of Holt, Rhinehart and Winston where he developed the literature-based reading programs Sounds of Language and The Instant Readers.
Martin returned to full-time writing in 1972 and ended up writing over three hundred children's books during his career. His titles include; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear?, The Ghost-Eye Tree, Barn Dance, and Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom. He died on August 11, 2004 at the age of 88.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-This fun and lively counting tale written by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson and illustrated by Lois Ehlert (S & S, 2004) is the companion book to the authors' Chicka Chicka Boom, Boom (S & S, 1989). In this story, the numbers race up a tree, beginning with 1, 2, and 3 and ending with 100. Zero offers the common refrain "Chicka chicka 1, 2, 3-Will there be a place for me?" As the tree becomes full of the various numbers, they are threatened by a swarm of bees. Delightful narration, music, and vocals are provided by Crystal Taliefero. Appealing sound effects add to the telling. Ehlert's simply animated, brightly colored cut paper artwork is enchanting and will appeal to young viewers. The bouncing, rhyming text is perfectly suited to the video and audio formats. There are page-turn signals on one track of the audio format, while an uninterrupted version of the story is told on the other. A bonus track features the fun and lively "Chicka Chicka 1 2 3" song that's certain to have children singing along. Useful for math and counting units as well as 100th day celebrations. Sure to be a popular choice in school and public libraries.-Maren Ostergard, King County Library System, Issaquah, WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Martin and Sampson (co-authors of I Pledge Allegiance) and Ehlert present an exuberant follow-up to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (which Martin wrote with John Archambault, and Ehlert illustrated in 1989). Here numbers take over an apple tree, rather than letters tumbling from coconut tree branches. Launching the appealingly absurd antics is a challenge framed in the familiar rhythm: "1 told 2/ and 2 told 3,/ `I'll race you to the top/ of the apple tree.' " As the subsequent numbers climb one by one with equal enthusiasm (after 20, the counting goes up by 10s), a worried zero (as indicated by a stray bead of perspiration) chants a refrain, "Chicka Chicka/ 1, 2, 3.../ Will there be a/ place for me?" The climbing comes to a halt when bumblebees arrive, ordering the numbers to vacate, which they do in reverse order ("90, 80,/ 70 fall,/ hit the ground/ in a free-for-all"). A fun twist involves a missing number and zero, who finally realizes where he belongs and leaps atop the leaves, a move that scares off the bees and clears the way for the other numbers to return. Featuring electric colors and an amalgam of basic shapes, Ehlert creates cut-paper compositions as wry and buoyant as the rhyming text. Several embellishments offer additional whimsy (5 wears a top hat, 70 sports long hair); endpapers and jacket flaps brim with brightly-hued numbers. Cleverly calculated verse and visuals add up to numerical mayhem that will entertain as well as reinforce counting skills and digit identification. Ages 3-7. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Preschool) In the immensely popular Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (rev. 1/90), the letters of the alphabet climb up a coconut tree and come crashing down. Substitute numbers for letters, an apple tree for the coconut tree, and co-writer Michael Sampson for John Archambault, and you have Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3. As numbers (all the way up to 99) ascend the tree, zero frets below: ""Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3... Will there be a place for me?"" Bumblebees defend their tree from the invading numbers, and the numbers fall, all except number 10, who eventually is joined at the top of the tree by zero to form the number 100. Ehlert employs the same crisp look of the previous book, cutting bright paper into shapes set flat against a white background, making the pictures feel equally energetic. Her bees are amusingly triangle-headed (and therefore not scary), and children will enjoy finding the various boo-boos on the fallen numbers. However, the text strains to achieve the whimsy and bounce of the original; some of the ideas seem peculiar (""70's hair is long and sandy""?); and the distinction between the one zero in 10 and the two zeroes in 100 is both confusing and false. Overall, it's a visually pleasing but conceptually weak revisit of a one-of-a-kind original. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Is nothing sacred? This misbegotten attempt to cash in on one of the great alphabet books of the modern age reunites two of the three creators of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, 15 years after it exploded onto the scene. In this outing, a series of numbers from 1 to 99 climb an apple tree as all the while a plaintive voice--a pallid shadow of the robust refrain of the original--emanates from a meek little 0 in the corner: "Chicka chicka 1, 2, 3 . . . will there be a place for me?" Ehlert gamely tries to reproduce the graphic genius of the earlier work, but is hampered by the lack of a story with visual punch: instead of tumbling out of an overloaded coconut tree, these numbers are chased one by one out of the apple tree by a couple of bees. The count-up and then -down lack both narrative and numeric logic, going by ones to 20 and then by tens to 90, and finishing, inexplicably, with 99. When at last 0 realizes its destiny and climbs the tree to join 10--who has lingered--to form 100, the arbitrariness, and thankfully the book, is complete. What's next: Where the Wild Things Went? (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
PreS-Gr. 1. Since its first publication in 1989, Martin and Ehlert's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom 0 has delighted preschoolers with its rhyme about an irresistibly rowdy alphabet that scales a tree. Tree-climbing numbers replace letters in this follow-up, which is as visually exciting as the earlier book. Ehlert's cut-paper collages retain the previous title's tropical hues and solid, playful shapes, but the conceptual exercise is more challenging than in the first book, which simply ran, letter by letter, up and down the alphabet. Here the numbers ascend by ones up to 20, after which they switch to intervals of tens (30, 40, 50) until they reach 90, which is followed not by 100, but by 99. Zero follows 99, accompanied by text that may confuse children: "0 lands on top / of the tree, / joins with 10. / Now 100 you see!" Adults will probably need to explain the math; the bright endpapers that count by ones to 100 will help. Despite the tricky concepts, though, the chanting rhyme and eye-popping images have a contagious energy youngsters will find irresistible. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2004 Booklist
