Math Literature Book Reviews

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Children’s Literature and Math Book List Title: 26 Letters & 99 Cents Author: Tana Hoban Grade Level: PK-3 Math Concept: Addition & subtraction; money; counting by ones, fives, tens Synopsis: Hoban's name is synonymous with creative and carefully crafted concept books for young children. This newest offering in arresting full color is really two books in one. 26 Letters is a delightful ABC handbook. Each page shows two letters (in both upper- and lowercase) paired with objects from airplane to zipper. Turning the book around reveals the even more creative 99 Cents. Here Hoban clearly shows youngsters how to count by pairing photos of numbers with pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters in a variety of combinations. The book counts by ones from 1? to 30?, by fives from 30? to 50?, by tens from 50? to 90?, culminating in 99?. Math concepts are extremely difficult to convey, while explaining nickels, dimes and quarters is harder still. Math Connection: I would use this book to introduce money. Title: How Tall, How Short, How Faraway Author: David A. Adler Grade Level: 2-4 Math Concept: Metric/standard measurements; history of measurement Synopsis: A lively discussion of the history of measurement that incorporates some hands-on activities. Students may be surprised to learn that in ancient Egypt, parts of the body were used as measuring tools; a digit was the width of one finger, and a palm was the width of four fingers. Terms such as span and cubit are similarly defined. Explanations progress from Egyptian methods to the customary (or inch-pound) to the metric system. Readers are encouraged to use these various systems to measure their height and think about what units they could use for distances. The leisurely pace of the presentation picks up significantly in the last third of the book and readers might feel they are being rushed through two final

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