Review of What Will Fit? by Grace Lin

Good for the Very Young, Mathematical, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

What Will Fit?

by Grace Lin

Charlesbridge, 2020. 16 pages.
Review written September 30, 2021, from my own copy ordered via Amazon.com
Starred Review

What Will Fit? is a board book in Charlesbridge’s wonderful “Storytelling Math” series.

This one is perfect – exploring spatial relationships in a way that is vitally interesting to the toddlers it’s written for.

The story is board-book simple. We’ve got a little girl going to the farmer’s market with a basket. She wants to find something that fits just right in her basket. She looks at a beet, an apple, a zucchini (turned both ways), and an eggplant.

Finally, she finds a pumpkin just the right size and celebrates.

On the back spread are notes to parents with playful ways you can build your child’s spatial sense.

The package all adds up to a sweet little story for short attention spans that will springboard into conversations that will help children learn an important concept fundamental to mathematical understanding. And all in a way that is interesting to them.

gracelin.com
charlesbridge.com/storytellingmath

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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 Molly and the Mathematical Mysteries, by Eugenia Cheng, illustrated by Aleksandra Artymowska

Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

Molly and the Mathematical Mysteries

Ten Interactive Adventures in Mathematical Wonderland

by Eugenia Cheng
illustrated by Aleksandra Artymowska

Big Picture Press (Candlewick), 2021. First published in 2020 in the United Kingdom. 30 pages.
Review written January 4, 2022, from my own copy
Starred Review
2022 Mathical Book Prize Honor Book, Grades 3-5

Oh, this book is delightful! It’s a lift-the-flap adventure that demonstrates intriguing mathematical oddities. I know – that doesn’t sound amazing and inviting, but this book is both of those things.

A girl named Molly gets a series of mysterious notes. We get to lift flaps and read these notes. The notes tell her what to do to get past that page. The first note, for example, tells her to open her window and turn her room inside out – at least in her imagination. Flaps open the window. Then on the next page, we’ve got an inside-out world, explaining the mathematical concept of inverses.

Some of the pages have puzzles in the flaps. An impossible staircase Molly can only escape by lifting the flaps. A maze Molly can only traverse if you lift the correct flaps. Figuring out which flaps can be folded into a cube. Weaving strips so that pink squares are hidden. Turning paper dials to reveal the correct answer. Each page has something different to figure out or uncover, and it leads you through the book along with Molly.

And the mathematical concepts are fun ones. This book helps kids think about dimensions, tiling, self-similarity, symmetry, combinations, fractals, and more. After completing Molly’s adventure, five colorful pages give the reader more mathematical information.

I had a lot of fun going through this book – and I’m an adult who already knows all the concepts. I would love to watch a kid go through it. Of course, the one drawback is that with all the flaps, this is not a good choice for a library collection. But I think a kid who had it at home would find themselves returning to it again and again.

Note: Even though this is presented as a story about Molly and is thus technically Fiction, the focus is on the mathematical concepts, so I think it fits better with Children’s Nonfiction, which is where I’ll file it.

eugeniacheng.com
candlewick.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 1 Smile 10 Toes, by Nelleke Verhoeff

Animal Characters, Award Winners, Good for the Very Young, Mathematical, Picture Book Review 0

1 Smile 10 Toes

by Nelleke Verhoeff

Barefoot Books, 2021. 24 pages.
Review written December 10, 2021, from my own copy, purchased via amazon.com
Starred Review
2022 Mathical Book Prize Winner, PreK

1 Smile 10 Toes is now one of my favorite board books. As with many board books, this one is part toy. All the pages except the last one are split in two, featuring a friendly imaginary animal all the same width in the middle. So you can turn parts of pages to mix and match the tops and bottoms and create many different kinds of creatures.

But the learning part is that each half-page has something to count. The only text is a numeral with the body part being featured. Some examples on top are 8 Feathers, 7 Curls, 3 Beaks, 5 Eyelashes, 4 Ears, 10 Spikes. Some examples on the bottom are 8 Toes, 9 Claws, 4 Feathers, 10 Hooves, 2 Thighs, 9 Fingers.

You can tell from the examples, the author didn’t worry about being conventional. I imagine that adults will get tired of counting things for kids long before a child will get tired of looking at these pages. I remember as a small child being fascinated with mix-and-match books, and this one has the additional bonus of teaching counting.

There’s no order to the number of things featured – all the numbers between 1 and 10 are featured, but in random order, which works well with the mix-and-match theme. You might want to wait to use it with a kid who knows that having 4 ears is silly.

No matter what, it’s a lovely way to give a small child endless things to count.

barefootbooks.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 Maryam’s Magic, by Megan Reid, illustrations by Aaliya Jaleel

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

Maryam’s Magic

The Story of Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani

by Megan Reid
illustrations by Aaliya Jaleel

Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins), 2021. 36 pages.
Review written December 16, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

Many years ago, having just graduated from college, I went to grad school in the field of mathematics at UCLA. Out of 120 people beginning math grad students there that year, only 5 of us were women. So in 2014, when Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman (and the first Iranian) to win the Fields Medal — the top prize in mathematics — I was delighted.

And here’s a picture book biography of this groundbreaking woman! Another thing to be delighted about. Young children can learn that brilliant mathematicians can be female.

The book tells how Maryam thought she didn’t like math as a child, but wanted to be a writer and an artist. Then she discovered geometry — and the author of this picture book says she took a storytelling artists’ approach to doing math.

It’s always a challenge to represent the work of mathematicians in a picture book biography. I like the loopy artwork the illustrator chose, tying in with the author’s explanation of Maryam’s process:

When it was hard to solve a difficult equation, Maryam covered her house’s floor with big sheets of paper and knelt to trace them with loops and lines, just as she had when she was young.

By now, Maryam was married with a child of her own. She drew so much that sometimes her daughter, Anahita, would tell people proudly that her mommy was a painter.

One of Maryam’s theorems was called “the magic wand theorem.” Here’s the explanation of that theorem:

She explained it using the image of a pool table, with balls that zigged and zagged forever. If you covered the balls in paint, how long would it take for their scattered paths to color the table completely?

Maryam’s magic wand math helped people all over the world. Astronauts could plot safer courses for their rocket ships. Meteorologists could predict weather patterns with more speed and accuracy. Doctors could understand how dangerous diseases grew and spread.

Sadly, Maryam died of breast cancer three years after winning the Fields Medal. This book beautifully explains her lasting legacy in a way children can understand.

meganreid.co
aaliyamj.com
harpercollinschildrens.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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Two Trains Leave Paris, by Taylor Marie Frey and Mike Wesolowski

Mathematical, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Two Trains Leave Paris

Number Problems for Word People

by Taylor Marie Frey
and Mike Wesolowski
illustrations by Patrick Torres

Abrams Image, 2019. 176 pages.
Review written August 5, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

I think this book is hilarious and utterly delightful.

What we have here is a review of high school and early college mathematics – with stories told about the elusive characters who show up in the word problems.

The first problem in the book, after a review of Algebra, tells about two trains leaving Paris, heading in different directions, and where the two trains are at their first stop. Then we’re asked:

How much distance is between Natalya and Andy when they simultaneously look back toward the city of love, thinking, Every end is a new beginning, and breaking up was for the best. No turning back now, this train only goes one way.?

This gives you an idea of the tone of this wonderfully silly book. Some problems are solved on the following page (like that first one), while the rest have answers in the back.

Here’s the second problem:

When asked his age, your math teacher, Mr. Newman, responds, “If you multiply my age by 4, then subtract 2, the answer is 110.”

A) How old is he?
B) Why does Mr. Newman talk this way?

So this book brings you snappy and funny summaries of math concepts, and then opportunities to try out what you’ve learned, while finding out about the adventures of a cast of characters you’ll come to recognize and maybe even sympathize with. The final chapter, after a review of calculus and probability and statistics, brings you to a wedding where all the characters gather.

Here’s part of the explanation at the start of the Trigonometry chapter:

You see, dear friend, Trig offers you a powerful gift: the chance to gain information about things without directly engaging with them. The people who determine which ads you see on social media know lots of Trigonometry.

And okay, if you don’t think this all sounds hilarious, this may not be the right book for you. As someone who once taught college math, I adored this book. The authors are far more interesting teachers than I ever was.

abramsbooks.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 Code Breaker, Spy Hunter, by Laurie Wallmark, art by Brooke Smart

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

Code Breaker, Spy Hunter

How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars

words by Laurie Wallmark
art by Brooke Smart

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2021. 44 pages.
Review written May 15, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

This picture book biography features a female American code breaker, a woman I’d never heard of before – whose work was declassified in 2015, thirty-five years after her death.

Most of us have heard of Alan Turing, the British mathematician who broke the German’s Enigma code. I hadn’t realized that America was working separately on cracking the code and succeeded separately. And the person in charge of that effort was a woman, Elizebeth Friedman.

Her work as a code breaker began long before that. She was hired in 1916 to try to find secret messages hidden in Shakespeare’s plays by Francis Bacon, whom her employer thought was the real author of the plays. She didn’t succeed in finding any, but that got her started in decoding. She and her husband were involved in the United States government’s first code-breaking unit, the Riverbank Department of Ciphers, in 1917 during World War I. They wrote pamphlets about the techniques they developed which are considered the basis for the modern science of cryptology.

She didn’t only work during war time, although she served during both wars. She also used her methods to catch smugglers during Prohibition and later captured spies.

I’ve recently reviewed books about making and breaking codes and ciphers, so I love this one about a woman who made that her life’s work. The author includes fun details such as the dinner party that Elizebeth and her husband hosted in 1938 where the guests had to solve clues to figure out where each course was being served.

Because of the top secret nature of her work, Elizebeth wasn’t celebrated for her accomplishments in her lifetime. Here’s how this picture book biography ends:

Elizebeth was a true heroine of both World War I and World War II. She is now considered one of the most gifted and influential code breakers of all time. Yet no one knew how many codes she broke, how many Nazis she stopped, how many American lives she saved . . . until now.

There’s more information at the back of the book including hints about coded messages hidden in the illustrations. This is a perfect book for kids interested in codes.

lauriewallmark.com
brooke-smart.com
abramsbooks.com

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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.

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 One Grain of Rice, by Demi

Children's Nonfiction Review, Folk Tales, Folklore and Literature, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

One Grain of Rice

A Mathematical Folktale

by Demi

Scholastic Press, 1997. 36 pages.
Review written May 7, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review
Mathical Hall of Fame

One Grain of Rice was recently chosen for the Mathical Books Hall of Fame, so I thought I should catch up – I missed this one when it was published. Yes, I’ve heard the tale in different versions, so I knew what to expect: a lowly person outwitting an autocrat with the power of exponential growth, asking for one grain of rice the first day, twice as much the next day, and doubling each day for thirty days.

This version has Demi’s exquisite artwork. The lowly person in this story is a clever peasant girl named Rani who devises a plan to feed hungry people. I also like the way the tyrant hoarding rice reforms and everybody’s happy at the end. It’s a picture book, after all.

As for the math – there’s a chart at the back that shows how many grains of rice Rani gets on each of the thirty days, so kids can see the exponential growth. I like the way the story doesn’t pretend that someone counts out each grain (couldn’t be done in a day!), but shows progressively bigger baskets transporting the rice. On the final day, two hundred and fifty-six elephants show up on a giant fold-out page bringing the contents of four royal storehouses.

I’m afraid during a pandemic is an especially good time for kids to have a basic understanding of how exponential growth works. It starts out very small, but can grow to very big if you keep on doubling. This classic book makes the ideas memorable, understandable, and beautiful.

scholastic.com

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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.

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 Geometry Is As Easy As Pie, by Katie Coppens

Children's Nonfiction Review, Mathematical, Starred Review 0

Geometry Is As Easy As Pie

by Katie Coppens

Tumblehome, 2019. 62 pages.
Review written April 17, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

What a fun book! It covers simple geometry topics such as symmetry, tessellations, polygons, angles, parallel and perpendicular lines, and relates them all to pie.

With every single concept covered, we get the question, “How does this relate to pie?” Here’s an example:

How Does Radius Relate to Pie?

When it comes to serving only one piece of pie, the first cut is typically from the center point of the pie to the crust. This cut represents the radius of the pie. That cut, like the radius, could be made in any direction to the circumference, as long as it is from the center point of the pie to the crust.

Here’s another such question with an especially good answer:

How Do Geometric Formulas Relate to Pie?

Suppose someone asks you how to make a pie and you just read them a recipe out of this book. Will you really understand pie-making as well as if you’d actually made the pie yourself? In the same way, rather than just memorizing geometric formulas, it’s important to work with and understand the mathematical ideas behind the formulas. In this book, the thinking behind mathematical concepts is explained first, before we give you formulas. In the same way, we hope you actually try to make the pies you read about in this book!

The book is illustrated with many, many photos of luscious-looking pies, and yes, a variety of recipes are included. I’m a little ashamed to say I did not try any of them out. But I may have drooled over the photos.

katiecoppens.com
tumblehomebooks.org

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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 Luna’s Yum Yum Dim Sum, by Natasha Yim, illustrated by Violet Kim

Contemporary, Mathematical, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Luna’s Yum Yum Dim Sum

by Natasha Yim
illustrated by Violet Kim

Charlesbridge, 2020. 32 pages.
Review written March 23, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

Here’s another wonderful book for exploring math with young children in the “Storytelling Math” series from Charlesbridge. It’s perfect, in fact, for my new Sondermath page.

In Luna’s Yum Yum Dim Sum, Ma Ma and Ba Ba are taking Luna and her two brothers to a dim sum restaurant for a special birthday lunch. They order two baskets of three pork buns each, and plan to eat two each.

Then Luna accidentally drops one on the floor. So they have five pork buns. How will they divide them up? Or should someone get more than everyone else? After all, Luna is the birthday girl.

This kind of problem – dividing up food – is near to kids’ hearts. And it’s told in a story form, so their attention won’t lag.

There are notes in the back about Dim Sum and the Chinese Zodiac, with ideas for exploring the math.

I’m enjoying this series, where kids engage with math concepts in real-life ways.

natashayim.com
violet-kim.format.com
terc.edu
charlesbridge.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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Recommended Math-Related Books for All Ages

Mathematical 0

I recently did a talk for a local group about math-related books I recommend for all age levels, and I made a long list of such books.

I decided to make this list a page on my website, because these weren’t the first people to ask me about this. And I’ll add to the list when I encounter more mathy titles that I love. I’ve already added a few after doing the talk.

Philosophy: Math at home should be nothing but FUN. Math in books should be nothing but FUN.
I look for exploring, discovery, and playfulness.

I haven’t reviewed all the books, but I’ll put a link to the review for those I have.

Earliest Learners
Goodnight, Numbers, by Danica McKellar
Crash! Boom! A Math Tale, by Robie H. Harris, illustrated by Chris Chatterton
Stack the Cats, by Susie Ghahremani
One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller, by Kate Read
Quack and Count, by Keith Baker

Early Numeracy

Counting
The Doorbell Rang, by Pat Hutchins
The Cookie Fiasco, by Dan Santat
How Many Jelly Beans? by Andrea Menotti, illustrated by Yancey Labat
8: An Animal Alphabet, by Elisha Cooper
Count the Monkeys, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Kevin Cornell
Math Fables, by Greg Yang, illustrated by Heather Cahoon
100 Bugs! A Counting Book, by Kate Narita, pictures by Suzanne Kaufman
Monkey Time, by Michael Hall
Anno’s Counting Book, by Mitsumasa Anno
Anno’s Counting House, by Mitsumasa Anno

Comparing
Lia and Luís: Who Has More? by Ana Crespo, illustrated by Giiovan Medeiros
Balancing Act, by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Who Eats First? by Ae-hae Yoon, illustrated by Hae-won Yang
How Long Is a Whale? by Alison Limentani
How Much Does a Ladybug Weigh? by Alison Limentani

Critical Thinking
How Many? A Different Kind of Counting Book, by Christopher Danielson
Which Is Round? Which Is Bigger? by Mineko Mamada
Pattern Fish, by Trudy Harris, illustrated by Anne Canevari Green
Sam Sorts, by Marthe Jocelyn
I Know Numbers, by Taro Gomi
Bedtime Math, by Laura Overdeck
Bedtime Math: This Time It’s Personal, by Laura Overdeck
Bedtime Math: The Truth Comes Out, by Laura Overdeck

Young Elementary School Math

Counting/Estimation/Number Sense
Everybody Counts, by Kristin Roskifte
A Million Dots, by Andrew Clements, illustrated by Mike Reed
Great Estimations, by Bruce Goldstone
Greater Estimations, by Bruce Goldstone

Mapping and Measuring
Mapping Sam, by Joyce Hesselberth
Millions to Measure, by David M. Schwartz, pictures by Steven Kellogg

Addition and Subtraction
Mice Mischief: Math Facts in Action, by Caroline Stills, illustrated by Judith Rossell
Do Not Open This Math Book, by Danica McKellar

Multiplication and Division
The Best of Times, by Greg Tang
The Times Machine, by Danica McKellar

Fractions
Piece = Part = Portion: Fractions = Decimals = Percents, by Scott Gifford, photographs by Shmuel Thaler
Fractions in Disguise, by Edward Einhorn, illustrated by David Clark
Fraction Frenzy, by Rob Colson

More Math-Related Fun
Mysterious Patterns: Finding Fractals in Nature, by Sarah Campbell
I See a Pattern Here, by Bruce Goldstone
That’s a Possibility! by Bruce Goldstone
Infinity and Me, by Kate Hosford, illustrations by Gabi Swiatkowska
Seven Golden Rings: A Tale of Music and Math, by Rajani LaRocca, illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan
Math at the Art Museum, by Group Majoongmul, illustrated by Yun-ju Kim

Prime Numbers
You Can Count on Monsters, by Richard Evan Schwartz

Number Facts
A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars, by Seth Fishman, illustrated by Isabel Greenberg
Just a Second, by Steve Jenkins
It’s a Numbers Game! Basketball, by James Buckley, Jr.
If…, by David J. Smith, illustrated by Steve Adams
If America Were a Village, by David J. Smith, illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong
Just the Right Size: Why Big Animals Are Big and Little Animals Are Little, by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Neal Layton

Critical Thinking
Which One Doesn’t Belong? by Christopher Danielson
Cao Chong Weighs an Elephant, by Songju Ma Daemicke, illustrated by Christina Wald
Anno’s Magic Seeds, by Mitsumasa Anno
Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar, by Mitsumasa Anno
How Many Guinea Pigs Can Fit on a Plane? by Laura Overdeck
If Dogs Were Dinosaurs, by David M. Schwartz, illustrated by James Warhola

Picture Book Biographies
The Boy Who Loved Math, by Deborah Heiligman
Nothing Stopped Sophie, by Cheryl Bardoe, illustrated by Barbara McClintock
The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity, by Amy Alznauer, illustrated by Daniel Miyares
Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly with Winifred Conkling, illustrated by Laura Freeman
Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci, by Joseph D’Agnese, illustrated by John O’Brien

Upper Elementary/Middle School

What’s the Point of Math? by Ben Ffrancon Davis
Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail, by Danica McKellar
Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who’s Boss, by Danica McKellar

Codes and Ciphers
Create Your Own Secret Language, by David J. Peterson
Can You Crack the Code? A Fascinating History of Ciphers and Cryptography, by Ella Schwartz
Code Cracking for Kids with 21 Codes and Ciphers, by Jean Daigneau

Building and Making
Calling All Minds, by Temple Grandin
Girls Who Build, by Katie Hughes
How to Be a Coder, by Kiki Prottsman

Critical Thinking
Really Big Numbers, by Richard Evan Schwartz
The Cat in Numberland, by Ivar Ekeland, illustrated by John O’Brien
Anno’s Hat Tricks, by Akihiro Nozaki and Mitsumasa Anno

Children’s Novels
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure, by Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Secret Coders (Graphic Novel Series), by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes
Numbed! by David Lubar

Biographies
Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in STEM, by Tonya Bolden
Hidden Figures: Young Readers’ Edition, by Margot Lee Shetterly

High School Math
Hot X: Algebra Exposed, by Danica McKellar
Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape, by Danica McKellar

For Adults

Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences, by John Allen Paulos
How to Lie with Statistics, by Darrell Huff
Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception, by Charles Seife
How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics, by Eugenia Cheng
Here’s Looking at Euclid, by Alex Bellos
Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
The Numbers Behind Numb3rs: Solving Crime with Mathematics, by Keith Devlin and Gary Lorden
Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World, by Matt Parker
How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter About Visual Information, by Alberto Cairo
How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking, by Jordan Ellenberg

Stories of People
In Code, by Sarah Flannery, with David Flannery
Bringing Down the House, by Ben Mezrich
Busting Vegas, by Ben Mezrich
Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly
Born on a Blue Day, by Daniel Tammet
Struck by Genius, by Jason Padgett
Count Down: Six Kids Vie for Glory at the World’s Toughest Math Competition, by Steve Olson

Novels
Beyond the Limit, by Joan Spicci
The Sand-Reckoner, by Gillian Bradshaw

Coloring Books
Patterns of the Universe, by Alex Bellos and Edmund Harriss
Visions of the Universe, by Alex Bellos and Edmunc Harriss
The Golden Ratio Coloring Book, by Steve Richards

Web Resources
Bedtime Math: bedtimemath.org
Mathical Book Prize: mathicalbooks.org
Math Book Magic: mathbookmagic.com
Talking Math With Your Kids: talkingmathwithkids.com
Mathematical Knitting: sonderbooks.com/sonderknitting