Review of The Kitchen Pantry Scientist Math for Kids, by Rebecca Rapoport and Allanna Chung

Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

The Kitchen Pantry Scientist

Math for Kids

Fun Math Games and Activities Inspired by Awesome Mathematicians, Past and Present

by Rebecca Rapoport and Allanna Chung

Quarto Publishing, 2022. 128 pages.
Review written January 8, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review
2023 Mathical Book Prize Honor Book, Ages 8-10

Oh, this book is wonderful!

A lot of general books about math for kids have the same old stuff you’ve heard before, presented in a fairly random order.

This book is organized around twenty-two biographies of distinguished mathematicians, and then has a hands-on game or activity (some using templates found at the back of the book or on the accompanying website). The activities are very cool! I think I am going to print out the templates for the hexaflexagons. Some of the other activities include making a car with square wheels, a mancala game, a binary bracelet, and an alien city.

The activities are illustrated with clear photographs and have step-by-step instructions. The biographies take up one page, with a full-page illustration of the mathematician and symbols around them representing their work.

I loved that I hadn’t heard of a majority of the mathematicians presented, even though I’ve read a lot of books like this. I also loved that most were women and/or people of color. Because there are a lot of white men in math, and it was exciting to me to hear about others. And everyone chosen had done important work.

A really wonderful book about math that will make the reader want to explore and make and do.

dailyepsilon.com
Quarto.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Calculating Chimpanzees, Brainy Bees, and Other Animals with Mind-Blowing Mathematical Abilities, by Stephanie Gibeault, illustrations by Jaclyn Sinquett

Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical, Science, Starred Review 0

Calculating Chimpanzees, Brainy Bees,

and Other Animals with Mind-Blowing Mathematical Abilities

by Stephanie Gibeault
illustrations by Jaclyn Sinquett

MIT Kids Press, 2024. 88 pages.
Review written December 18, 2024, from my own copy, sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

Here’s a book that tells a fascinating story about what goes into mathematical thinking – because it’s telling how scientists figure out how much of it animals are capable of.

First, they look at guppies. Yes, fish! Can guppies, with their tiny brains, count? Well, it turns out that when faced with two alternatives, guppies can choose the larger shoal to swim near (the better to not be eaten by predators). While explaining the experiments the scientists did, we learn about relative numerosity judgment, object-tracking systems, approximate number systems, and the numerical size and numerical distance effects.

Next up are hyenas. Researchers recorded the whoops of different hyenas and simulated a group approaching with hyena whoops. The hyenas would change behavior if there were more or fewer hyenas in the simulated group than their own group. They were wary with more intruders and aggressive with fewer. Along the way, the reader learns about subitizing and all the different things that happen when a human counts.

Chapter 3 is about a highly intelligent African grey parrot named Alex and how he even learned to use numerals and do simple math, even when the question was given with numerals. The super-interesting story of how they designed experiments for Alex to show he really understood what he was doing also teach the reader about equivalence (swapping four objects for the numeral 4, for example) and ordinality.

Next was a chapter about chimpanzees, and, yes, they can do calculations. Some experiments they described involved hiding groups of oranges in different places – and the smart chimp could pick the number that matched the total number of oranges. Even more amazing, when they put numerals in place of the oranges, the chimp still picked the correct total the very first time they tried it. This chapter covers ways humans – and chimps – do addition (though we don’t know which one this chimp was using) – counting all and counting on.

The final chapter was about honeybees. The scientists used sugar-water treats to train bees to choose the smaller number when presented with pictures of shapes – and the bees could do it even when the card had zero objects. Along the way in this chapter, the author talks about the concept of zero and how it did take humans a long time to grasp it.

And for all of the chapters there’s added value of an interview with the scientists who did the experiment plus a page for each chapter of related experiments you can try with a friend. The introduction and sections threaded through all the chapters include the story of the horse Clever Hans and how scientists use precautions to be sure they aren’t tipping the animals off.

I thought this whole book was completely fascinating, and it’s written in an engaging way that should capture the attention of the 9- to 12-year-olds it’s designed for. Really interesting stuff! You’ll gain insight on the thought processes behind the way you – and animals – do math.

mitkidspress.com

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Review of Leaves to My Knees, by Ellen Mayer, illustrated by Nicole Tadgell

Contemporary, Mathematical, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Leaves to My Knees

by Ellen Mayer
illustrated by Nicole Tadgell

Star Bright Books, 2022. 32 pages.
Review written December 23, 2022, from my own copy, purchased via amazon.com
Starred Review

This is a very simple picture book about raking leaves — which intentionally incorporates early math concepts. I read it for the Mathical Book Prize, though first thought of it simply as a nice story for Autumn. There’s a note at the back to parents and caregivers about the mathematics of measurement you’ll find here — and yes, it uses all of those concepts in a natural way that adds to the story.

The story is simple and lovely. A girl named Camille is bundling up with her Daddy and toddler brother to rake leaves. She plans to rake a pile of leaves that’s up to her knees.

The pictures of the family raking are joyful and bright. Each family member has a rake appropriately sized for them and makes a matching pile. The raking sounds they make are swush, swish, and sweeeeee.

There are obstacles to Camille’s plan — twigs and acorns clog up the rake. Her little brother steals leaves from her pile. And the wind comes with a big whoosh. But Camille progressively makes a pile that comes to her ankles, to the tops of her boots, and finally up to her knees — perfect for jumping into!

The complete package is a sweet story that will get your preschooler thinking about comparing and measuring.

ellenmayerbooks.com

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Review of The Probability of Everything, by Sarah Everett

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

The Probability of Everything

by Sarah Everett

Clarion Books, 2023. 326 pages.
Review written January 13, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review
2024 Mathical Honor Book, Ages 11-13

Kemi is eleven years old, and the world is ending in four days.

Or at least probably. There’s an asteroid heading toward earth, with an 84.7% chance of hitting us.

Kemi loves math and probability — especially the probability puzzles her Dad gives her. But now there’s an asteroid in the sky making everything purple. They have to leave their house in the “better” part of town and stay with her aunt and cousins. Kemi can’t believe her best friend is still going to school.

Kemi thinks about her family, including her new baby sister who won’t be born before the end of the world. She decides to make a time capsule to remember her family and everything they love most. But to find what her father will put in means doing his favorite things together with him.

And I can’t tell you what happens at the end of the book, but it did surprise me how things turned out. I liked the inclusion of the Monty Hall Problem in probability, the concise explanation, and the application that you should always pay attention to new information.

This book is about a girl coping with the end of the world by remembering what she and her family love most.

saraheverettbooks.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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Review of Lemonade in Winter, by Emily Jenkins and G. Brian Karas

Contemporary, Mathematical, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Lemonade in Winter

A Book About Two Kids Counting Money

written by Emily Jenkins
illustrated by G. Brian Karas

Schwartz and Wade Books (Random House), 2012. 36 pages.
Review written October 4, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review
2023 Mathical Honor Book, age 5-7

Okay, here’s a super fun story that also teaches kids how to count money — exactly the sort of thing we look for in the Mathical Book Prize.

It’s a freezing cold day in the neighborhood. Everything’s covered with thick snow, and icicles are hanging everywhere. Inside, big sister Pauline gets what she thinks is a brilliant idea: Let’s have a lemonade stand! Her little brother John-John gets excited, too, and wants to help.

Both parents discourage the idea: “Don’t you see it’s freezing?” “Don’t you hear the wind?”

But the kids gather all the quarters they can find:

“Each time you get four quarters, that’s a dollar,” says Pauline.
“Four quarters, that’s money!” says John-John.

They buy lemons and limes for a dollar each, sugar for two dollars, and cups for two dollars. I like the way the picture shows the quarters laid out on the counter in front of each item.

“We have twenty-four quarters, and that’s six dollars,”
Pauline tells John-John as she counts out the money.

When they’re getting ready to go out, their parents are still discouraging, but they make the lemonade and limeade and set up their stand in the snow in front of their house. They’re selling for fifty cents a cup.

When no one comes, they decide to advertise, and sing a catchy song about lemonade and limeade for fifty cents a cup. (Perfect for reading aloud at storytime!)

Every time they sell a cup, Pauline explains the amounts to John-John:

Fifty cents, that’s two quarters,” Pauline tells John-John.
“Two drinks is four quarters — and that’s a dollar.”
She puts the money in a green plastic box.

They try entertainment — John-John does cartwheels. They keep singing their song. When there still aren’t many people about, they decide to have a sale. Now it’s twenty-five cents a cup. Then they add decorations. And keep singing their song.

When they empty both pitchers, Pauline diagrams out how many cups they sold for how many quarters and adds it all up. When she realizes they only made four dollars, she starts to cry. They started with six dollars!

But John-John has the perfect solution of what to do with their hard-earned four dollars.

After the story, there’s a page at the back with the heading “Pauline Explains Money to John-John.” There’s a wonderful explanation of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills.

I love this book because it’s a truly delightful picture book story, and it’s super good practice counting quarters and how much they’re worth. As well as introducing the concepts of profit and loss. But with a happy ending, despite the loss.

Tremendous fun!

emilyjenkins.com
gbriankaras.com
randomhouse.com/kids

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Review of How Do You Spend? by Cinders McLeod

Animal Characters, Mathematical, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

How Do You Spend?

A Moneybunny Book

by Cinders McLeod

Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin Random House), 2024. 32 pages.
Review written October 31, 2024, from a book sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

How Do You Spend? is a perfectly pitched introduction to spending money for very young children.

Here’s how it begins:

Carrots are money in Bunnyland,
and Bun has saved a lot!

How will Bun spend her carrots?

The following spreads show how Bun spends her carrots. Each page has the format across the top, “Sometimes Bun spends…” with an adjective. The picture shows that day’s spending, and across the bottom you have in a child’s print: “Today I spent x carrots.” with the x filled in with the number spent. I appreciate that on every page, you can see and count the carrots spent.

I appreciate that the book starts with adjectives a young child is more familiar with – Fast (and a picture of Bun running with a shopping cart that is filling up) and Slow (and Bun taking a ride on one of those stationary rides in front of a grocery store).

But the book does go on to pairs like Expensive and Cheap, Ordinary and Exciting. And I like the pairs For Tomorrow (showing piano lessons that cost 2 carrots per month and 24 carrots for a year) and For Today (buying Bunny Hop tickets), and On Herself (ice cream), and On Others (flowers she gives to another bunny).

It’s just a super simple conversation-starter for a young child, ending with the question, “How do you like to spend?” So simple, but so engaging. Basically, you can talk about feelings or the physical act of spending or about numbers – or anything that enters a child’s head.

This book is part of a series. Our library already has one, and I’m planning to order the rest.

Moneybunnies.com
CindersMcLeod.com

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Review of How to Two, by David Soman

Contemporary, Mathematical, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

How to Two

by David Soman

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2019. 36 pages.
Review written October 4, 2022, from a library book.
Starred Review

Counting books are a staple for parents to share with young children, and this is a beautiful one. You’re counting children playing!

First, we see one child launching off a playground slide, and the words read:

How to one.

That’s pretty much how the text goes. “How to two” shows two kids on a seesaw.

At six, there’s a rainstorm, and the six kids play duck, duck goose under a shelter. The kids go further afield as the numbers get bigger, with “How to eight” involving Hide-and-Seek, and “How to ten” being a grand game of tag.

As the sun sets and parents take all the kids home again, the numbers go back down more quickly. And I almost missed it — but the endpapers at the back show animals to go back and count for each number.

The art is beautiful, the kids are exuberant, and the book does the job of teaching counting from 1 to 10.

davidsoman.com
penguin.com/kids

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Review of A Million Dots, by Sven Völker

Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

A Million Dots

by Sven Völker

Cicada Books Limited, 2019. 44 pages.
Review written March 24, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

Now you and your kids can both explore exponential growth!

The first spread of this book shows the numeral 1, the word one, and one dot – in this case, the graphic artist has made it the top of a tree.

The next spread: 1 + 1 = 2, two, and two green treetop-dots.

The next spread: 2 + 2 = 4, four, and now the dots are smaller, four red apples.

Each time you turn the page, the number of dots you can see doubles and the dots get smaller. And the artist makes pictures out of them. The picture on the front cover with dots as freckles is the picture for 256.

When it gets to 524, 288, it takes a long fold-out page to show all the dots, even though they’re very small, and they’re even smaller on the other side with 1,048,576 dots.

I love the idea of this, because I’m a firm believer that people simply don’t understand how big a million is. In fact, I’ve got a little problem with using the 256 picture on the cover, because children might think that’s a million dots. And once it does show a million, the dots are so small my old eyes aren’t even sure which parts of the picture are dots and which aren’t. You couldn’t really explain it from the front of a room in storytime.

So for storytimes, I still prefer How Many Jelly Beans?, by Andrea Menotti, which also has a fun story to go along with the big numbers. But for kids to explore and wonder over the numbers by themselves or in small groups? This book is marvelous.

And this is a good time to try to understand that when you’re talking exponential growth, numbers get big very, very quickly.

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Beto’s Berry Treasure, by Jenny Lacika, illustrated by Addy Rivera Sonda

Contemporary, Mathematical, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Beto’s Berry Treasure

by Jenny Lacika
illustrated by Addy Rivera Sonda

Storytelling Math (Charlesbridge), October 8, 2024. 32 pages.
Review written July 19, 2024, from my own copy given to me at ALA Annual Conference.
Starred Review

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Charlesbridge’s Storytelling Math series. In fact, I went up to their booth and gushed about them on the last day of this year’s ALA Annual Conference – and they gave me one of their copies of this newest entry in the series!

All the books have a cultural element, in this case two Mexican American kids who speak some Spanish. They also present in very simple terms an early math concept, with tips for parents to extend the ideas at the back. And it’s always found in a picture book story that will engage kids even if it weren’t teaching math concepts.

Beto’s Berry Treasure is about spatial relationships and making and following maps.

Beto wants his big sister Cora to play tea party with him, but she only wants to play pirate. So Beto decides to make a pirate map of hidden treasure – the treasure being berries for the tea party.

But Beto’s first tries don’t lead Cora to the treasure! How can he fix it?

And will there be any berries left by the time Cora finds the treasure?

This simple story is a fantastic conversation – and play – starter. And believe it or not, spatial relationships and being able to give step-by-step instructions (or a map) are early math concepts.

Another brilliant entry in the series.

jennylacika.com
astound.us/addy-rivera-sonda
charlesbridge.com/storytellingmath

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Review of Look for the Math Around You, by Alice Aspinall

Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

Look for the Math Around You

Arrays
Estimation
Fractions
Geometry
Math Chats
Patterns

by Alice Aspinall

Code Breaker, 2020. Each volume 56 pages.
Review written December 13, 2022, from library books.
Starred Review

I’m reviewing a series of six books with this post. I’m super proud that I found these for the library and just got a chance to read them myself. They’re even better than I’d hoped!

What these books present is a wonderful opportunity for mathematical conversations for adults to have with kids as young as Kindergarten through 4th or 5th grades. They’ve got questions that made me think, and they model mathematical thinking.

Every book begins with a page that says this:

This book features photos taken from everyday, real-life moments. Use the photos as prompts to start a math conversation with children. Each photo is accompanied by optional question prompts. In some cases, there are many correct answers. The thinking process and mathematical discussion are more important than the correct answers. Have fun!

I read that in the first book, and right away my heart responded with a “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

I’ll include some example questions from the different books:

From Arrays, next to a photo of a garage door:

How many rectangles are in this photo? Look closely.
Explain how you counted them.

From Estimation, next to a photo of popcorn in a bowl:

There are two kinds of popcorn in the bowl. How would you describe how much of each kind is in the bowl? Think about using:
–Numbers
–Fractions
–Percentages
–Words

From Fractions, next to a photo of an uncut pan of brownies:

The brownie needs to be shared with 8 people.
Show the different ways you can cut the brownie so that all 8 people get the same amount of brownie to eat.

From Geometry, next to a photo of an orange slice, first in a circle and then pulled into a line:

The orange slice shows the parts of a circle. The circumference is the peel, wrapping all the way around the outside of the circle. The area is the flesh of the orange. Point to each part of the circle.

When we pull apart the orange slice, we can see the parts of the circle in a different way. How many segments can you count?

What do you think is the length of the circumference of this orange slice? How do you know?

From Math Chats, next to a photo of a fire pit with marshmallows toasting:

How far away should the marshmallow be from the fire for the best roast?
In what direction do you rotate your skewer to toast the marshmallow?
How much of the marshmallow do you like covered in char?
What ratio of cracker to chocolate to marshmallow makes the best s’more?
How many pieces of chocolate do you like in a s’more?
What pattern do you use to assemble a s’more?

From Patterns, next to a photo of a pie with a lattice top:

How is the pie crust arranged? Use words to explain how all the pieces are weaved together.
What other patterns can you find on the pie? Look for shapes.

That should give you the idea. The books are loaded with interesting photographs accompanied by open-ended questions that encourage mathematical thinking. And because the questions are open-ended, your child may surprise you!

You can find all these books in the Fairfax County Public Library catalog if you search for “Look for the Math Around You.”

everyonecanlearnmath.com
codebreakeredu.com

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Arrays
Estimation
Fractions
Geometry
Math Chats
Patterns

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?