Did you know that today is DEAR Day? It’s time to Drop Everything And Read! Here’s five math books that are great reads to enjoy any day!
Math Curse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith – “Did you ever wake up to one of those days where everything is a problem? You have 10 things to do, but only 30 minutes till the bus leaves. Is there enough time? You have 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants — can you make 1 good outfit? Don’t worry — it’s just the Math Curse striking! An amusing book about dealing with numbers in everyday life.”
Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail Paperback
by Danica McKellar – “From a well-known actress, math genius and popular contestant on “Dancing With The Stars”—a groundbreaking guide to mathematics for middle school girls, their parents, and educators
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!”
Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie: Math Puzzlers in Classic Poems by J. Patrick Lewis – “Is this poetry? Math? A brainteaser? Yes! It’s all that and more. The poet J. Patrick Lewis has reimagined classic poems—such as Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” and Langston Hughes’s “April Rain Song”—and added a dash of math. Between the silly parodies and the wonderfully wacky art, kids will have so much fun figuring out the puzzles, they won’t guess they’re learning! Answers appear unobtrusively on each page, and engaging information about the original poets is included. Math games and concepts, poetry and poet biographies—it’s all so cleverly put together. This funny book is a treat for fans of words and numbers alike.”
Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle by Cindy Neuschwander and Wayne Geehan – “When Steward Edmund Rounds and Sir Cumference notice that there are strangers camped nearby, Rounds II decides to investigate despite being involved with the task of learning how to make accurate counts of the castle’s stores of food, supplies, and weaponry. When he reports back that an enemy is lying in wait, everyone moves quickly to defend the castle. But wait! Will Rounds II be able to figure out how many bows and arrows they have to create an appropriate battle plan? Using rounding techniques to figure out the totals more quickly, Rounds II is just in time to help stave off a potentially disastrous attack.”
Why Pi? (Big Questions) by Johnny Ball – “This entertaining follow-up to DK’s popular Go Figure!, Why Pi? presents even more mind-bending ways to think about numbers. This time, author Johnny Ball focuses on how people have used numbers to measure things through the ages, from the ways the ancient Egyptians measured the pyramids to how modern scientists measure time and space.”
I hope you and your students enjoy these books! Happy DEAR Day!
