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Picture Books About Math

The Big Buck Adventure by Shelley Gill and Deborah Tobola, Charlesbridge, 2002. This is consumer math for primary folk with illustrations by Grace Lin. Our heroine, who relates her humorous adventure in the first person, is dropped off at the store with a whole dollar to spend. As she moves from the candy counter to the toy department to the deli, she quickly discovers that a dollar doesn't buy much. After being overwhelmed with the choices, she thinks of what she could have bought and leaves -- still clutching her dollar.  BTH-2708. $6.26-D

Coin Counting Book by Rozanne L. Williams. Charlesbridge. 32 pages. Trade paper. 11 x 8.5 inches. The author, a former elementary teacher, identifies and counts the pictured coins and presents equivalent values with rhymes that encourage children to join in and add up the answers. It concludes with a picture of coins being dropped into a piggy bank, with some set aside to be spent. This can lead to discussions or lessons on what these coins might buy. A great book for introducing money to children. Cat. # Chbrg-3266. $6.26-D

Counting is for the Birds by Frank Mazzola, Jr. Charlesbridge. 32 pages. Trade paper. 8.5 x 11 inches. A great book to introduce both counting for 1-20 and birds. Children will count twenty colorful birds as they gather to crack seeds at the backyard feeder. A cunning cat is lurking below. What will happen to the poor, unsuspecting birds? The surprise ending will delight readers of all ages.   Cat. # Chbrg-9507. $6.26-D

Counting on Calico, written and illustrated by Phyllis Tildes. Charlesbridge. 32 pages. Trade paper. 8.5 x 11 inches. As a child counts the spots on Calico the cat, the ears on her seven kittens, etc., he or she will learn much about cats and will delight, with cat lovers of all ages, in the adorable illustrations. Children learn to count from 1-20 as they learn more about their feline friends. Cat. #Chrbg-8624. $6.26-D

Dealing with Addition by Lynette Long. Charlesbridge, trade paper. 32 pages. 8.5 x 11 inches. Use a deck of playing cards to teach addition skills. Besides introducing the deck of cards itself and mentioning games that people play with cards, this book includes its own game at the end that helps children have fun as they practice addition skills. there are also puzzles to work throughout the book for matching cards in different ways to reach a certain number. For example, there are ten different ways to get card combinations that add up to ten. Cat. # Chbg-2707. $6.26-D.

Domino Addition by Lynette Long. Charlesbridge, trade paper. 32 pages. 11 x 8.5 inches. Learning to add is fun when you use dominos! First learn how to use simple addition to find the total number of dots, from zero to twelve, on each domino. Then see if you can find the dominoes with each total hidden in the pictures. With a simple but imaginative approach, Lynette Long has created a fun-filled counting book sure to appeal to even the most reluctant math students. Cat. #Chrbg-8772. $6.26-D

Frog Counts to Ten, by John Liebler. Trade paper.
Left out of a game of hide-and-seek because he can't count, Frog sets out on his bicycle, meets with misfortune, and learns his numbers literally by accident. Young children will learn along with Frog as they look for the numerals cleverly hidden in the art work and count objects in the pictures. For those who can already count, it's still fun to read the bold, large print and watch frog's mishaps. Cat.# MLBK-6986. $4.45-D. Click on image to enlarge it. 

How Much is a Million? by David Schwartz. Pictures by Steven Kellogg. Helps make numbers like million, billion, and trillion a bit more comprehensible to children (or anyone) through pictures and comparisons. (e.g. A bowl big enough for a million goldfish would also hold a whale. Counting from one to one million would take 23 days. Etc.) Cat. # Mor-099335. $4.45-D

How Tall How Short How Faraway by David A Adler. Illustrated by Nancy Tobin. The theme of this book is measurement, and the author traces its history back to ancient Egypt. Students will learn the historical meanings of terms such as "digit," "palm," "span," and "cubit," and they will get a chance to measure themselves using these measures. Students then go to ancient Rome and learn how Romans measured in paces and in miles. They also learn of the need for standardization of measures and about the two leading measuring systems in use today -- the customary inch-pound system, derived from the Romans, and the metric system, first proposed by Rather Gabriel Mouton. Students are given the opportunity to put both systems to use in hands-on suggested activities. Trade paper. 32 pages. Full color illustrations. Cat. #HH-16321. $6.26-D

Icky Bug Counting Book by Jerry Pallotta.   Charlesbridge, trade paper. 32 pages. 11 x 8.5 inches. For ages 3-8. Count bugs in their natural surroundings, illustrated by Ralph Masiello. There's just as much to learn here about creepy crawlies as about math, making this book good for cross-curricular studies.
Cat. #Chrbg-4963. $6.26-D

Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? Robert Wells has written a book for all ages to illustrate and explain the relative sizes of large from a blue whale all the way to the whole universe. The opening picture shows an elephant, horse, and lion standing on a pier watching the tale of a blue whale that is larger than all of them combined. Then he shows the same animals looking at a jar that contains 100 blue whales. He then puts two such jars on a platform with the animals between them. With the animals still standing on the bottom platform, Wells draws a stack of platforms ten high and then on the next page puts them on top of Mount Everest to show how small they are in comparison. By this time the animals are no longer visible. Wells goes on and on until he reaches the universe itself, having introduced numbers in the millions and billions along the way. Even adults will find this book, and others in this series fascinating. Other titles include What's Smaller than a Pygmy Shrew (click on image to enlarge it), What's Faster than a Speeding Cheetah? (Explores speed from the ostrich and cheetah to the speed of light), How Do You Lift a Lion?(comparative weights), and the newest one --Can You Count to a Googol ? This last one  explains very large numbers and the concept of infinity itself.  The books are 6.26-D each, in paper.

The M&M's® Brand Color Pattern Book by Barbieri McGrath. Charlesbridge, 2002. This book helps young children learn about patterns and colors. It begins with two-color patterns and moves to more complicated six-color pattern arrangements, which are made, of course, with those brightly-colored, delicious manipulatives -- M&M's® candies. Children will learn to sort by colors, make patterns, identify patterns, and add and multiply by patterns. Unpaginated. #157091-4176. $6.99-D Out of print. One left.

M&M's™ Brand Counting Book Barbara McGrath has written and illustrated what has to be the world's yummiest way to teach counting and simple math concepts to young children. Readers will be introduced to the numbers 1-12, the six colors of the candies, three primary shapes, and the sets of twelve. BTH-4118. $6.95-D. Appears to be out of print. Is not in most recent catalog, but I still have some left.

MathStart Series from HarperCollins: In this series for ages three and up, entertaining stories based on everyday life help children learn math concepts. At the back of each book are suggested activities for more learning activities children can do with adult help. These are graded into three levels that reach from preschool up to grade two and up. For titles and more details, click here.

One Hundred Hungry Ants, by E. Pinczes. One hundred hungry ants hurry single file to sample the delights of a picnic, but that seems an awfully slow way to move. One enterprising ant suggests they could get there faster in two rows of 50...four rows of 25... and so the division begins. The ants' lively marching verses combined with Bonnie Mackain's whimsical ant (and animal) pictures make this book a comically delightful way to learn division. Paper, 5.36-D.

One Less Fish by Kim M. Toft and Allan Sheather.   Charlesbridge, trade paper. 32 pages. 8 x 10 inches. This book is part counting book and part cautionary tale. The book illustrates how human carelessness leads to the disappearance of twelve species of fish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. It includes suggestions on how people can avoid such environmental catastrophes. Illustrations are stunning silk paintings. A counting rhyme in reverse, the book begins with 12 fish and counts down one by one to 0 as the fish meet with peril in the sea. Rhymed couplets make up the text for young children. Slightly older kids will want to hear the dangers described in greater detail in accompanying paragraphs of information. Useful for primary-grade units on threats to ocean ecosystems. For all ages. Cat. #Chrbg-3231. $6.26-D

One on a Web: Counting Animals at Home by Ginger Wadsworth. Charlesbridge. 32 pages. Trade paper. 8.5 x 11 inches. The informative text and captivating illustrations teach children to count from 1-20 as they discover the interesting places where some fascinating creatures live. For ages 3-8.
Cat. #Chrbg-9736. $6.26-D

Picturing Math: Hands-On Activities to Connect Math with Picture Books by Colleen Kessler. Prufrock Press, 2007. For teachers of students in grades 2-4. Teachers will learn to help students explore math problems using picture books and excite them with hands-on activities related to numbers and operations,  problem solving, algebra, geometry, probability and measurement. The author has prepared lessons, reproducibles, and activities that meet state and national standards. The lessons do not have specific grade levels attached because the author expects students to work according to their abilities. The books used are Ten Sly Prianhas; Mission: Addition; Divide and Ride; Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream; Betcha!; Safari Park; Each Orange Had Eight Slices; The Go-Around Dollar; Math-terpieces; The King's Chessboard; Math Counts: Shape; Spaghetti and Meatballs for All; Pigs on the Ball; The Fly on the Ceiling; Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes; The Patchwork Quilt; Shoes, Shoes, Shoes; The Principal's new Clothes; Room for Ripley; Cook-a-Doodle-Do; Edward and the Pirates; Probably Pistachio; A String of Beads; No Fair!; Tiger Math; and Jumanji. Books are not included. Answer Key is. 193 pages. BTH-3803. $17.96-D

Shape Up!: Fun with Triangles and Other Polygons by David A Adler. Illustrated by Nancy Tobin. This book uses things children are familiar with -- slice of cheese, pretzel sticks, a slice of bread, a pencil, and graph paper -- to teach them about the various types of polygons in a hands-on way. For students in grades three and up. Students will learn the proper terminology for various triangles, angles, polygons, and quadrilaterals. Trade paper. 32 pages. Full color illustrations. Cat. #HH-16380. $6.26-D

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