Searching for the wonder and joy of mathematics in books (this site will officially move to fairymathmother.com and will be no longer be active April 2023)
The Charlesbridge Storytelling Math series brings the magic once again. This time with their four board book collection by author/illustrator Grace Lin spanning four seasons. Up To My Knees explores the measurement of sunflowers planted in spring, Circle, Sphere explores the bubble shapes popping in the summer sun, What Will Fit? involves collecting and comparing fall harvest items and The Last Marshmallow explores how to share on a cold winter day.
This sweet story follows Sam's journey to becoming the shape that suits him best. Is it a circle? A square? Or some shape in between? Nichols's bright, cheerful illustrations are the perfect complement to Jackson's heart-warming story. Published in September 2019 by Page Street Kids, My Shape is Sam is a perfect fit for ages 3-6.
Written and illustrated by Tim Hopgood Walter's Wonderful Web is a story about a spider trying to build a perfect web to withstand the wind. Walter forms webs containing sets of similar shapes inside each other. Hopgoods lyrical lines pair perfectly with his adorable images of Walter and his web-making struggles.
Joey loves things that fold: maps, beds, accordions. His interest in foldables increases after watching his classmate's mother turn an ordinary piece of paper into a beautiful origami crane. Joey sets out to learn origami. However, not everyone appreciates the amount of practice it takes to become an origami master. Especially since Joey has taken to folding his homework, his mother's money, and his sister's sheet music. Luckily, Joey finds a way to fold to his heart's content and becomes the origami master he set out to be.
Weltman has masterfully curated a collection of activities that open doors to profound and curious mathematical questions. Some of these questions are written into the text ("Did you know you can fit an infinite number of circles into a finite space?" Wait. WHAT?!), however most questions Weltman magically tucks away inside unmade art waiting to be created and discovered by the reader.
This week's book added tangrams into our math story time. The tangram is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective is to form a specific shape (given only an outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. In this NPR article*,... Continue Reading →
With over 110 titles, Hoban's books for children are well-known and loved throughout the world. Her books help children explore the world by introducing concepts such as counting, shape, machines, colors, animals and textures.
This is a book of shapes. There are Triangles, Diamonds, and Spirals, Oh my! But there is much, much more.
This book is about learning how to be a geometer (and more generally how to be a mathematical thinker).
This post is about a picture book I read to our epsilons* at a recent get-together. Here we are with nine of the ten plus a best friend (the tenth was visiting grandparents).
Math Book Magic 