Sir Cumference Strikes Again!

SIR CUMFERENCE AND THE OFF-THE-CHARTS DESSERT by Cindy Neuschwander with illustrations by Wayne Geehan. Charlesbridge, 2014.


As the Harvest Faire approaches, the King and Queen are in a quandary: the Royal Baker is ill. Who might replace him? Two local bakers are placed in competition with one another to see who is the better. They track sales via charts and graphs to determine the winner. I adore this entire series and hope it has found its way into plenty of math classrooms.

Mice Mischief

MICE MISCHIEF: MATH FACTS IN ACTION by Caroline Stills with illustrations by Judith Rossell. Holiday House, 2014.

Ten little mice can
Do lots of things. Watch them
As they add to ten.

Wing Wing Brothers

THE WING WING BROTHERS: GEOMETRY PALOOZA by Ethan Long. Holiday House, 2014.


The Wing Wing Brothers are back in time to teach some lessons about geometry. Triangles, rectangles, trapezoids and more are the subject for this humorous and informative picture book. Here is a great way to introduce readers of all ages to some important math concepts. Tie to books by Greg Tang including MATH POTATOES, MATH FABLES, and THE GRAPES OF MATH.

Fun with Math

TRIANGLES by David Adler with illustrations by Edward Miller.

Geometry fun
With triangle facts and more
Answer the questions.

Fibs

THE 14 FIBS OF GREGORY K. by Greg Pincus. Scholastic, October 2013.

Gregory is not the math genius his father and older brother are. THAT is must one of the problems he is facing. He is not doing well in math; his best friend Kelly is moving, and he is fairly certain his mother and father will not let him go to Author Camp. As a matter of fact, there is talk of a meth camp for the summer. How would he survive that? Enter Gregory's math teacher, someone who sees the talent Gregory possesses even if it is not mathematical. Perhaps Mr. Davis might have some way for Gregory to pass math and get to go to Author Camp, too? Pincus blends humor (and some of it is mathematical), math (especially Fibonacci numbers), the power of words, and cooking and poetry in a novel sure to appeal to a wide range of readers. Ladder this with THE CANNING SEASON, A TANGLE OF KNOTS, and more. Oh, and use it in English class as well as Math class, too.

NF for young readers

BECOMING BABE RUTH by Matt Tavares. Candlewick Press, 2013.

Tavares' lovingly illustrated biography of Babe Ruth takes the giant down off the pedestal and makes him truly human despite his athletic ability. Through arduous practice and perseverance, Ruth became an iconic part of baseball and American history. <674>

WHO PUT THE COOKIES IN THE COOKIE JAR? by George Shannon with illustrations by Julie Paschkis. Holt, 2013.

How does the cookie get to the cookie jar in the first place? Shannon takes readers into the process that eventually results in a cookie. Not just ingredients, but where the ingredients come from are part of the story. This book might just be step one in a lesson on economics for kids who will come to realize all of the work and workers responsible for bringing goods to market. <675>

LOOK! by Ted Lewin. Holiday House 2013.

An I LIKE TO READ book, the simple text will be a child's introduction to animals of all kinds, including a boy reading a book surrounded by stuffed versions of the animals brought to life through Lewin's watercolor and pencil illustrations. <676>

MILLIONS, BILLIONS, & TRILLIONS: UNDERSTANDING BIG NUMBERS by David A. Adler with illustrations by Edward Miller. Holiday House, 2013.

Math teachers rejoice! Here is a book that shows young readers the enormity of big numbers. Lots of analogies and colorful illustrations help make something that is rather abstract a tad more concrete. <677>

YUMMY! GOOD FOOD MAKES ME STRONGER. by Shelley Rotner and Shelia Kelly with photographs by Shelly Rotner.

Involving kids in all phases of food including preparation leads to healthier choices being easier to make. From growing veggies in a garden, to preparing simply salads for lunch and more, the colorful photographs capture the fun of eating well. <678>

Math, history, and other stories

FISH FOR JIMMY: INSPIRED BY ONE FAMILY'S EXPERIENCE IN A JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT CAMP by Katie Yamasaki. Holiday House 2013.


After the bombing of Pearl Harbor during WW II, people of Japanese ancestry were rounded up and taken to relocation/internment centers. Often families were separated with me in one camp and women and children in others. Such is the case for Jimmy and his family. When father is sent off and the remainder of the family sent to another center, Jimmy refuses to eat. Hos older brother Taro manages to escape several times a week to catch fresh fish for his brother to eat. <721>

THE KINDHEARTED CROCODILE by Lucia Panzieri with illustrations by AntonGionata Ferrari. Holiday House, 2013.

A kindhearted crocodile has a tough time making friends. And so he sneaks into a house and begins to do nice things for the inhabitants: washing dishes, tidying toys, and more. By morning, the crocodile has slipped in between the pages of a book so as not to alarm them. One night, the family waits to see how all the chores are being accomplished. <722>

THE RABBIT AND THE NOT-SO-BIG-BAD WOLF by Michael Escoffer with illustrations by Kris DiGianco. Holiday House, 2013.

Rabbit warns readers of the approach of the Wolf. As he describes the creature approaching, it is apparent that the "Wolf" is not so big and bad. Might be a good companion to Maurice Sendak, especially WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. <723>

THE WING WING BROTHERS: CARNIVAL DE MATH by Ethan Long. Holiday House, 2013.

Need to teach kids about numbers: here are the Wing Wing Brothers at a carnival playing with numbers: adding, subtracting and the like by tens to and from 100. <724>

Friendship

THE CLUELESS GIRL'S GUIDE TO BEING A GENIUS by Janice Repka. Dutton 2011.

Aphrodite is a genius. She has already graduated from college at the tender age of 13. To collect data for her thesis, she has volunteered to become a middle school math teacher. Thrown into the class others call boneheads, Dytee is determined to show them all that they can be successful. It will take a huge sales job, especially for Mindy. Though Dytee and Mindy are the same age, they belong in two different worlds. But being 13 just might connect them. Funny and fast paced, here is a book that goes beyond the usual friendship story to include math, baton twirling, and beauty salons. <496>

picture books for math class

As I finish out the year with a plethora pf picture books, I thought I would point out some that would work well in other content areas. Here are two that are excellent for inclusion in math classes.



PERIMETER, AREA, AND VOLUME: A MONSTER BOOK OF DIFFERENCES by David Adler with illustrations by Edward Miller (Holiday House 2012) provides a terrific introduction to the concepts of dimensions and the mathematical terms that describe different dimensions. Making concepts more concrete with picture books allows readers who are still not able to think abstractly a scaffold by which they might begin to grasp these concepts. <670>





ZERO THE HERO by Joan Holub with illustrations by Tom Lichtenheld (Holt 2012) is a funny story about how zero feels outcast from the other numbers. They tease him until one day they discover that without him they cannot perform some of their mathematical functions. Zero comes to the rescue when the other numbers are captured by Roman Numerals. Lots of good humor here to make for a fun lesson or two in math class. <671>

in a pickle about Frankie

During the August #titletalk, a monthly Twitter chat hosted by @Donalynbooks and @MrPaulWHankins, guest "speaker" @MrSchuReads mentioned the Frankie Pickle series. I immediately pulled one from the newly arrived box of books from Somon and Schuster to bring home to read. During the triple digit afternoon, I read Frankie (and a few other books). I LOVE FRANKIE PICKLE. In FRANKIE PICKLE AND THE MATHEMATICAL MENACE by Eric Wright (Simon and Schuster 2011), Frankie fails a math quiz. He spends time doodling monsters from the numbers and not solving the problems. His teacher, bless her, offers to let Frankie retake the test Monday. He has the weekend to study. Time flies and Frankie does not get in the studying he had intended. Instead he has helped his Dad cook and done other activities that, lo and behold, are hekping him "get" math. Great read aloud for math teachers, here. <368>