Mystery Math: A First Book of Algebra

Mystery Math by David A. Adler is a picture book that provides a great introduction to algebra. Equations are compared to see-saws or a balance scales, and it is explained that whatever is on one side has to be balanced by whatever is on the other side. This is an analogy that will definitely make sense to children. Appropriate terminology such as the word "variable" is used, but the great benefit is that this new vocabulary is also explained in simple terms as the mystery number. This gently encourages students to make connections and achieve deeper understanding of the concept. Step-by-step, illustrated examples of solving simple equations using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are provided. Another idea I absolutely loved, was the provision of instructions in the back of the book for students to make their own balance scale using readily available resources including a coathanger, paperclips and coins as weights. What a fantastic book for helping to demystify a topic that students frequently find difficult!

The Boy Who Loved Math

I really love math myself. I'm not brilliant at it, but I do enjoy it. It saddens me greatly to hear children (and adults) say that they can't do math or that math is boring. It inspires me to want to change that perception. Over the last few years I have discovered that there are many wonderful children's picture books, covering an enormous range of mathematical concepts which can be used to gently introduce students to math and help make difficult concepts more accessible. Authors such as Greg Tang, David A. Adler and Dayle Ann Dodds have all written numerous books suitable for primary students, some of which I will share in later posts.

I knew I had to have this book as soon as I saw it. I have a little boy who loves math and he sometimes feels  a bit awkward and different because of it. This is the story of Hungarian mathematical genius Paul Erdos, who might provide an interesting choice for young mathematical enthusiasts studying significant people in Year 4. When I handed my son this book I could see him making connections as soon as he saw the cover and read the title.  He was grinning from ear to ear and asked if we could read it immediately. We spent a couple of delightful hours together, reading and studying the beautiful illustrations, pulling out sheets of paper and carrying out the simple steps described to find all the prime numbers using the sieve of Eratosthenes. We had not previously known that there were different types of prime numbers, but after reading the pages in the back of the book my son was inspired to do some research and find out even more. It can't get better than that!

This is a creative, fascinating book which I am thrilled to have added to my collection!

The Worm and What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

The Worm is the second book in Elise Gravel's Disgusting Critters series. It is a non-fiction picture book for lower primary readers which integrates basic factual information with cute cartoon illustrations and fun hand-drawn fonts. This series will be sure to appeal to even the most reluctant young readers and would be a great addition for Foundation and Year 1 classrooms exploring the needs and external features of living things in biological sciences. My seven-year-old son laughed out loud at the hilarious artwork, so I will be looking out for the other books in this series: The Fly, The Slug and The Rat, as well as the next two books The Spider and Head Lice which are due out next year.




I had only heard good things about Steve Jenkins books, but I had not ever actually read one myself, so I bought What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? You know a book is truly wonderful when you begin reading to one child and your other two children are drawn in by the excited giggling and they creep over to listen too! All three children delighted in guessing what animal each body part might belong to and they were very interested in the more detailed information provided at the end of the book. Who knew that horny devils could squirt blood from their eyes?