Stories to Solve and Completed Books 1/21/10

Stories to Solve: Folktales from Around the World, George Shannon, is such a fun book to have on hand.   

"Shannon aptly combines folklore and puzzles in this short collection of 14 stories from around the world. The tales, not more than a page or two long, present situations in which someone figures out a problem or solves a mystery. Readers are then asked to suggest how it was done. For those who can't -- and many of the stories are abstract -- solutions are provided."  Amazon

Are you ready for one?  Here is a fun and familiar puzzle from the book.  See if your children can figure it out!

One fine summer day two fathers and two sons went fishing at their favorite lake.  They fished and talked all morning long and by noon everyone had caught one fish.  As the two fathers and two sons walked back home, everyone was happy because each had a fish even though only three fish had been caught.  Two fathers and two sons.  Only three fish and no fish were lost.  How can this have happened?  

The answer is at the bottom of this post!

Book completed 1/21:

Lella:  Anatole (32 pages), Eve Titus, The Monkey and the Crocodile, Paul Galdone, Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Adrienne Adams, The Amazing Pig, Paul Galdone, The Perfect Nest, Catherine Friend,  Tutankhamen's Gift, Robert Sabuda.

Note:  Lella really enjoyed Anatole, Parisian mouse magnifique!

Marcus:  The Secrets of Droon:  Under the Serpent Sea (113 pages), Tony Abbott, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (GIC, 236 pages), Jules Verne, Mummy Math, An Adventure in Geometry, Cindy Neuschwander, from The Children's Treasure of Virtues:  Try, Try Again, The Tortoise and the Hare, St. George and the Dragon, The Lion and the Mouse, David and Goliath, The Minotaur, "America", edited by William J. Bennett.

Both:  The Legend of the Persian Carpet, Tomie DePaola, Temple Cat (31 pages), Andrew Clements, The Secret of Droon:  The Hawk Bandits of Tarkoom (116 pages), Tony Abbott, Jonah and the Whale, Rosemary Lanning, There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly, Simms Taback, Get Ready for Second Grade Amber Brown (48 pages), Paula Danziger, Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream, A Mathematical Story, Cindy Neuschwander, Four Hungry Kittens, Emily McCully, George Washington's Breakfast, Jean Fritz.

Note:  Gabriella loves reading There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly and has the whole book memorized.  She actually read it a couple years ago and recently requested it again.  I was amazed she even remembered reading it!  It is such a silly book, but she thinks it is very funny!  She is also in this strange phase where she is requesting touch and feel board books.  She is such a kinesthetic learner!  

Solution to Riddle:  Only three people went fishing.  A boy, his father, and his grandfather:  two sons and two fathers.