I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. This is my honest review.

This was a cute mathematical story about ants building a new house. The story itself progresses through the numbers 1-10, with some very simple sums as we go along, and then we even count back down from 10-1. Additionally, the story made a point of emphasizing all the words that contain ant, which I found cute.

The illustrations were super bold and colorful, really drawing your attention in and providing items for the children to count as you read along. I could read this book a few times before I'd want to hide it for a while to read something else. Overall I give Smarty Ants 3.9758 out of 5 stars.

Overall this was a good book. We see these ants building the perfect home, and counting while they do it. When disaster strikes, they work together to make sure everyone is okay. Some kids will have a lot of fun reading this book.

A book that might not look like a five-starrer, but by the rules I set myself (ie the rules I set the books I review) this has to deserve it, for going the extra step and including the unexpected amongst the routine stuff someone would buy it for. We're with a troupe of ants who are building their new home, and luckily it is a solitary building, of two floors, with three this and four that, and before long we're counting up, just as at the same time the industrious workers are doing their relevant maths. So we get the narrative of their sort-of chant as they labour, and very easy sums, and a revision to one-to-ten, including a checklist midpoint through things. We then start to count down backwards – only to find that not only is all this going on, but we're due a major surprise as well.

What with the colourfully-presented maths, and the count-along aspects, and the rhyming narrative, and the twist, I thought the constANT word punning was actually too much, a case of bad form(ica). But that aside I just didn't expect this book to have it all – the educational aspect as well as the strong entertainment from the surprise. Is this a maths reviser the very young will want to re-read? Count on it. Even if slightly flawed, the way this does more than the routine – taking more work on its shoulders and carrying it all off perfectly well enough – is top marks.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

These smarty ants made math fun. It was enjoyable building their home with them, and seeing the cute illustrations that went along with it.

I did not understand why the pantry was 6+1, other then that great

Cute rhyming math book about hard-working ants who work together! The rhyming cadence was whimsical and fun, and I liked seeing all the small details and everyday objects in ant-scale in the illustrations. My only complaint is the capitalization in the ant puns made the text extremely annoying to read; design wise I would find an alternate route to highlight those.

Great book for a Kindergarten or First grade classroom to reinforce several essential skills -
Addition
Counting
Rhyming scheme
ANT words
and the illustrations are so bright and entertaining. The busy little ants are building a home and as they go along they count out and add all of the things you need for a beautiful home.
Thank you to NetGalley and Capstone for the advanced copy for review. Teachers should put this one their 2023 list for their math library.

This book was so adorable, I loved everything about it, the illustrations were so colorful and fun , they suited the book perfectly, the story was amazing as well, the rhymes and the ant puns were so funny, I had no idea so many words had ant on them.
I’m sure the kids are going to be just as enthralled with this amazing book as I was.
I will definitely recommend!

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this early copy

I read this book with my 5 year old son. He loved the illustrations. The story kept him attentive. While he missed most of the math that was incorporated, I think someone who had math options at a preschool or kindergarten would have understood (he starts K in the fall).

We will recommend this book to his friends.

Thank you for a copy of this book. This review is my family's honest perspective of the book.

Will be immediately adding this to our shelves.
We loved how the math was worked into the storyline. We also enjoy how they incorporated the word ant into all the words like elephANT. 10/5 STARS for this adorable book for you littles in your life.

This is a fun story about counting and basic addition facts for kids. I think the rhyming was an excellent way to help the kids remember their math facts, and the ant puns were funny as well! The art was cute too, I'd recommend that my library get a copy.

Thanks to Capstone and Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Corey Rosen Schwartz, Kristi Call, Capstone, and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review!

This was a cute book that my five year old really enjoyed counting along with. I also loved the addition and subtraction problems that were built into the story, The illustrations were adorable and my daughter loved seeing the Smarty Ants' house come together. Smarty Ants is great story for children in preschool to kindergarten!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC! Smarty Ants is a cute insect book with added math throughout the story. Number recognition and simple addition up to 10 is seen throughout this story. A great way for kids to see how different subjects can be in one another . Overall, this is a perfect book to add to a bug and number lovers shelf!

What fun! Great for K-2 age math, reading, and spelling. Great pictures, fun story, and delightful characters. This would make a great addition to any home or classroom.

I thought that the ant puns in this book would be a fun and engaging way for kids to connect with the text. I thought the pictures were fun and I loved the surprise ending to the story. The only specific critiques that I have would be on the math component. It seemed a little difficult for myself as a teacher to frame a lesson around the text, because it focuses on two different mathematical concepts. The book begins by focusing on adding. The pictures always show a number sentence, but sometimes the text reflects the addition equation displayed in the picture, and other times it does not, resulting in some inconsistency. Also, about halfway through the story, the concept changes to a counting backwards idea, which I think could be a little confusing to students as well.

This story had great illustrations, It had great potential. The counting aspect was great. Towards the end the story was railroaded by an element that did not move the story along, I also did not enjoy in the writing every time there was the word ant inside of another word the authors capitalized the word ant. While this is interesting and there are many words with the word ant in it, I found it very distracting when reading, Not a book I would recommend.

After loving all of the books in the ‘ninja’ fairy tales series, I was excited to see another Corey Rosen Schwartz book and this didn’t disappoint! Love the counting/math lessons folded into the story.

Well done...

However, i don't really like it.

MY THOUGHTS:
📌 Way too colorful; there are some pages where i felt like the colors overlapped.

📌 When I picked up this book, I thought it would teach little kids about how ants worked or how they interacted with each other, but it did neither.

📌 The story itself is just about ants who are working to build their home and, at the end, get stepped on by an elephant. But then they become friends with this elephant......The end!

📌 Ah right, I know this is a story about ants, but did you need to put every word that contains the word "ANT" in capital letters?

For example: "constANTly"; "plANTs"; "gigANTic"; "giANT"; "vacANT"; "repentANT"; "mANTles"; "tenANTs"; etc

In a good way, it does help children learn how to pronounce it much easier way, but on the other hand, I found it could be misleading, and they might end up pronouncing it incorrectly instead of correctly. It depends on how parents teach them.

📌 There is some math in this book, but it's just very basic math with plus problems only, such as: 1 + 1 = 2 ; 5 + 5 = 10; etc.
I'm not very sure this kind of math is suitable for ages 5-7. Because I remember that by the age of 6, I already knew how to do multiples and division.


CREDIT:
Thank you NetGalley and Capstone, for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Smarty Ants by Corey Rosen Schwartz, Kirsti Call - 5/5

Smarty Ants is a great story for children between the ages of 5 to 7 years old. The early math skills and beginning reading skills is an added plus to keep the kids focused and involved throughout the story. The illustrations are super cute and we loved following along to the story with the characters.

This one was so very cute! I love that the book incorporated math problems throughout, the kids really liked solving the math! The rhyming scheme throughout was also very nice. This book was well-written, illustrated, and the storyline kept the kids engaged.
My kids all enjoyed the book and picked this title to read over a series of others.

Kid ages (2,4,6)

Super cute book with beautiful illustrations! I read this with my 3yr old and even though he doesn’t understand addition yet, he loves to count! Can’t wait to take advantage of this one when he’s a little older!