Math

As the math education crisis in this country continues to make headlines, research continues to prove that it is in middle school when math scores begin to drop-especially for girls-in large part due to the relentless social conditioning that tells girls they “can’t do” math, and that math is “uncool.” Young girls today need strong female role models to embrace the idea that it’s okay to be smart-in fact, it’s sexy to be smart!

It’s Danica McKellar’s mission to be this role model, and demonstrate on a large scale that math doesn’t suck. In this fun and accessible guide, McKellar-dubbed a “math superstar” by The New York Times-gives girls and their parents the tools they need to master the math concepts that confuse middle-schoolers most, including fractions, percentages, pre-algebra, and more. The book features hip, real-world examples, step-by-step instruction, and engaging stories of Danica’s own childhood struggles in math (and stardom). In addition, borrowing from the style of today’s teen magazines, it even includes a Math Horoscope section, Math Personality Quizzes, and Real-Life Testimonials-ultimately revealing why math is easier and cooler than readers think.

Is “power counting” like power jogging? It is in that it gets kids’ minds in great math shape. Professor X. P. Nential teaches kids to count using exponents of 10. From 1, kids power count to a googol (10 with 100 zeros) and beyond. Sidebars with real-world fascinating facts make these large numbers meaningful.

In return for a good deed, young Rani asks the greedy raja for just one grain of rice — doubled every day for 30 days. In a month she collects more than one billion grains of rice, enough to save the starving people of her village and to teach the raja a thing or two about wisdom . . . and math!

Red Riding Hood is taking a basket of 12 cookies to Grandma, but along the way she encounters nursery rhyme and fairy tale characters who request some of the goodies. At each character’s request, the reader turns the wheel and chooses the amount of cookies (0, 1, or 2) to share and, at the end, figures out how many cookies are left for Grandma. This interactive book can be read several times with many different outcomes. Give children actual or make- believe cookies (template provided in book) to figure out the math as you read the book aloud. Suggestions for acting out this math adventure and math games are also included.

Stuart J. Murphy believes that if math had been explained to him as a child using illustrations, he would have understood math concepts more easily. So he has come up with his own series of math storybooks (divided into three levels) with pictures by well-known children’s book illustrators. In Safari Park, a Level 3 book in this series (ages 7 and up), a boy Paul, his sister, and three cousins have 20 tickets each to spend at the newly opened Safari Park. The Tiger Wheel costs 4 tickets, the Bat Tunnel 2, and so on. How many rides can each child enjoy? This becomes even more difficult to figure out when Paul loses all of his tickets and the others must each share one ride with him. Turn to the back of this book for related activities and games.

King Arthur, his wife Lady Di of Ameter, and their son, Radius, problem solve to find the right shape for a table that the king uses to discuss matters with his knights. This clever tale of geometry has simple diagrams that reinforce math concepts, including circumference, diameter, and Pi.

How many pennies in a nickel? What combination of coins equals a dollar? Catchy rhymes and photographs of real money teach children about coin denominations, grouping, and counting. Coins are shown in sets with written equations so students can readily see equivalents. Adding real coins while working through this book will add real meaning to the value of money.

This clever book is told in rhymes that give clues for solving math problems quickly and innovatively. Tang makes looking for patterns and regrouping numbers both fun and challenging. Strategies for solving these problems are found in the back.