Math Curse

According to Mrs. Fibonacci (heh heh, math joke), “you can think of almost everything as a math problem,” which presents no end of misery for the unnamed female grade school protagonist at the center of this animated adaptation of the 1995 picture book Math Curse, from the acclaimed author/illustrator team of Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. Following her teacher's announcement, the poor little girl experiences the rest of her day as one math problem after another, many involving real math (counting the number of kids on the school bus, for instance), but others purely nonsensical (“true or false: what is the bus driver's name?”). Ably narrated by Nancy Wu, Math Curse—which features a bouncy soundtrack and infectious title song by Scotty Huff and Robert Reynolds—sports an appropriately Tim Burton-esque vibe as the girl's math-cursed brain careens wildly from serious mathematical questions (how many M&M's does it take to measure the Mississippi River, and its important corollary, how many M&M's would you eat during the process) to a weird takeoff on the counting sheep scenario for insomniacs. Featuring a read-along option, DVD extras include a characteristically entertaining interview with the wacky Scieszka and Lane. Recommended. Aud: E, P. (R. Pitman)