Science, Bias, and Measuring our World

Thomas Jefferson’s Battle for Science: Bias, Truth, and a Mighty Moose! 

by Beth Anderson; illus. by Jeremy Holmes 

48 pages; ages 7-10

‎Calkins Creek, 2024

theme: science, history, biography

Young Thomas Jefferson measured his world … animals and plants, mountains and streams, weather and crops. He recorded sizes and shapes, temperatures and times, distances and speeds (even his own). 

Science was certain, peaceful, measurable. Or so Jefferson believed. But when a French scientist wrote about the animals of America – saying the land was swampy and cold, the bears were smaller, the wolves downright puny – Jefferson got furious. He would show that buffoon! 

Jefferson is certain that America has ferocious and grand animals, such as Moose. So after the revolution, Jefferson declared a war of his own. A war against faulty facts. He would use science to fight this war. He would prove that American animals were large and magnificent - even if he had to mail a Moose to France to do so!

What I like love about this book: I love the endpapers – they are filled with life-sized tracks of North American birds and mammals. I love how Jeremy Holmes captured the feeling of science at the turn of the 19th century in his illustrations: identification tags and labels laid out on graph paper; documents tacked to wooden walls… even the color palette feels old-fashioned.

Then there is the language – it is downright fun. I love how Beth Anderson shows Jefferson’s reaction to the French critic: Hogwash! Absurd! Outrageous! I love how she shows Jefferson’s skepticism: where did Buffon get his information if he’d never been to America? (This, dear readers, is the sort of skepticism we need to nurture today! Just sayin’) And I love the back matter. In the author’s note, Beth dives deeper into Thomas Jefferson’s love of science and dissects the problems with mistruths. She reminds us that “scientific truth is always changing and growing” and asks readers to continue to fight against biases and untruth in scientific thinking, as Thomas Jefferson fought against Buffon’s  mistruths.

And that was when I knew I just had to ask Beth A Few Questions:

Me:  Why did you want to write this book? I feel there is an underlying lesson in it 

Beth: The more I dug into Thomas Jefferson’s obsession with science and this event, the more connections I found to today and for kids. So many important ideas and issues to ponder! It’s more important than ever that we raise critical thinkers. Truth matters. It’s vital for us all to examine our sources for bias and misinformation. Jefferson and Count Buffon both eventually admitted they were wrong when presented with evidence. While the story deals with a theory about animals and simple concepts like bigger isn’t necessarily better and different doesn’t mean inferior, I’m hoping that kids will be able to take the understanding gained from this to more crucial applications as mentioned in the back matter that result in really dangerous and damaging patterns of thinking. I also loved that Jefferson’s efforts to disprove Buffon’s theory fit the scientific inquiry process that kids use today. The past connects to today in so many ways! 

Me: What faulty facts are we fighting today?

Beth: We have all kinds out there—all that was being passed around during Covid is just one area where faulty facts piled up. Unfortunately many areas have become politicized and polarizing which makes it hard for us to examine issues intelligently, admit if we’re wrong, and recognize reality. Faulty facts have invaded medicine, history, democracy, environmental science, and more. We are in an age when it is becoming ever more difficult to sort truth from non-truth. We are deluged with information from legitimate as well as dubious sources, and now the emergence of AI makes this all even harder. As I said, it’s so important that we raise kids to think and question in constructive ways. Though the illustrations of Jefferson and Buffon’s dinner debate show Jefferson’s inner turmoil, historical sources describe him as respectful and polite despite Buffon’s condescending attitude. Buffon was one of Jefferson’s scientific heroes. Imagine how disappointing that was and how hard it was for Jefferson to dispute Buffon’s information. It’s clear that they both had to let go of their emotional attachment to what they WANTED to be true. 

Me: What can we do to help our children become scientifically literate?

Beth: We are really fortunate to have such a fantastic array of children’s books about science these days. I think wide exposure to gain knowledge and nurture a sense of wonder and curiosity about the natural world is where scientific literacy starts. Then we provide opportunities to practice experimentation and investigation, collect and analyze data, and model critical thinking. An important piece of this is that scientific truth evolves as our understanding grows. Science is really quite irresistible! With the love of it, comes the literacy.

Beyond the Books:

Measure your world. What do you measure, and what tools do you use to do the measuring? Record your measurements and share them with others.

What are the largest (and possibly most majestic) animals that live near you? Use the process of scientific inquiry to support your thinking.  

What kinds of animal tracks can you find in the wild places near your home? (perhaps a park or local wooded area). You can find a handy field guide to animal tracks from Maine Fish and Wildlife at 

https://www.maine.gov/ifw/docs/animaltracksposter.pdf

Beth is a member of #STEAMTeam2024. You can find out more about her at her website.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Game-Changer

 I’m always looking for books about math. Here’s one that came out just recently.

The Queen of Chess: How Judit Polgár Changed the Game

by Laurie Wallmark; illus by Stevie Lewis 

32 pages; ages 6-9

‎little bee books, 2023 

Themes: biography, women in STEM, math

Judit Polgár peeked through the door of the “chess room.” Her oldest sister Susan was playing, and Judit wanted to be part of the fun.

She gets her wish when she turns five, and joins her older sisters for five to six hours a day studying chess. Judit loved playing, and even more loved competing. Soon she was winning tournaments, and at the age of 15 became a grandmaster.

What I like about this book: I like how Laurie shows Judit as a ferocious and fearless chess player – and also as a young girl who does other things, too. Chess doesn’t look as exciting as soccer or skating, but for the players it’s an electrifying game of strategy. As a non-chess player, I appreciated that back matter includes a section on the mathematics of chess. Not only do young players learn to recognize patterns and develop spatial reasoning, playing chess helps critical thinking – because players need to think several moves ahead and be able to quickly change their strategy.

We’ve got a couple chess boards on the game shelf, but for some reason I never got the hang of chess. So I had to ask Laurie One Question:

Me: Did you play chess as a child?

Laurie: I did, but only for fun – I never competed. Playing the game didn't inspire my writing, but my knowledge of chess definitely helped me get into the mind of Judit Polgar. 

 

I think the best way to learn to play is by doing chess puzzles. These are not entire chess games but rather the board is set up with only a few pieces. The goal is to figure out how to get to checkmate by using a limited number of moves. Chess puzzles offer the opportunity to practice the rules of the game and to improve pattern recognition skills.  

Beyond the Books:

Read more about the life of Judit Polgar at her website here.

Learn the rules of Chess and how to move the pieces. Here’s one site. ChessKid is another place that’s set up for kids to learn how to play (requires that you sign up)

You can play other, non-chess games to increase your powers of pattern recognition. Here are a few: Uno, Clue, Memory Minesweeper, Tetris, and Connect Four. If all you’ve got is pencil and paper, try tic-tac-toe.

Laurie is a member of #STEAMTeam2023. She has written tons of biographies about women in STEM, many of which I have reviewed on this blog. You can find out more about Laurie at her website.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by Blue Slip Media.

This Giraffe teaches Math

Giraffe Math

by Stephen Swinburne; illus. by Geraldo Valério 

40 pages; ages 4-8

Christy Ottaviano Books (Little, Brown & Co), 2023

theme: giraffes, math, interactive

Do you like giraffes? Do you like math? What if you put them together?

Twiga, a young reticulated giraffe, acts as a tour guide to the world of giraffes – and math! From their ossicones to their hooves, tongue length and spot pattern, we learn about the wonderful way giraffes have adapted to their environment. And we get lots of cool facts, like a single hoof is as big as a medium pizza! (I really should not write reviews before breakfast!)

What I like about this book: What a fun way to make math concepts accessible. Take the first spread about height: there’s the facts (13-20 feet tall), a comparison to other animals (including a third-grader), and an introduction to triangles. How do triangles figure in giraffe math? So glad you asked. Imagine a thirsty giraffe at a watering hole. With long legs and a not-quite-so-long neck. They spread their legs and bend their neck… and if you look at them from the front, they look like a triangle. What sort of triangle depends on how tall they are. You can see how math just sort of worms its way into a book about giraffes. I mean – there’s a whole spread about patterns!

I also like the artwork. The illustrations were created with paper collage, acrylic paint, and color pencil and they positively invite children to take a closer look! There is also back matter, with information about the giraffe’s lifecycle and where they live in Africa (and a range map), a glossary, some metric conversions, and a pop quiz to see what you remember. There were no questions about pizza!

I wanted to know more about Steve’s writing, so I asked him a Couple of Questions:

Me: Why - and when - did you decide to write the book from the giraffe's point of view? 

Steve: Twiga was in my first draft of the manuscript. Right from the start, I heard this voice, this narrator, a giraffe that wanted to tell its own story. Who better to introduce readers to fascinating facts about giraffes and their relationship to other creatures than the animal itself. I wanted the book to be a kid-friendly guide to giraffes, and I realized that a friendly, welcoming giraffe named Twiga would be the perfect tour guide to the world of giraffes. Of course, Twiga means giraffe in the Swahili language. 

Me: What about kids who love giraffes and hate math? (That would be me!) I want my math sneaked up sideways on! I don't want to know it's even there...

Steve: It’s SO ironic that a guy who disdains math, hated math in school, has an aversion to arithmetic, writes a book with MATH in the title. Thank goodness, Twiga is there to help me with the numbers. I was a kid who hated math in school and I wish I had had this book that uses a giraffe’s gentle voice and lots of cool natural history to ease me into understanding some early math concepts like measurements, shapes, percentages, etc. It’s like the song says, “Just a teaspoon of sugar makes the medicine go down in the most delightful way!” So for the kid who hates math, my advice is let Twiga be your guide to some very cool giraffe facts with just a smidgen of math.

Me: Yes! I wish I had a Twiga to help me learn some math. Thank you, Steve. Now let’s go…

Beyond the Books:

Learn more about giraffes. You can find books at your library, and get lots of great information from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation – where you can even adopt a giraffe! They even have a downloadable workbook with all sorts of activities.

If you were a giraffe, what sort of spot pattern would you have? Draw your own unique spot pattern. Then, if you want to, head over to this page to see how well you do spotting the differences between real giraffe coat patterns.

Not all giraffes are born with spots! Just recently a spotless giraffe was born in a zoo in Tennessee. Check out this article from NPR.

Steve is a member of #STEAMTeam2023. You can find out more about him at his website. 

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Books for the Beach, Backyard or ....

 When folks ask, “hey, would you like to review this book?” very often I answer Yes without taking into account the books Already Piling Up in my book basket. So this week I’m sharing three books I think would be fun to take on a road trip, or just to the park to read with kids – or to enjoy for yourself while drinking something cool and refreshing as you rock in a hammock slung between two shady oak trees. Because, really, who doesn’t love reading a fun picture book now and then?

It just so happens that all three were published by Charlesbridge this year.

Theme: Fossils, Math, STEAM

Here We Go Digging for Dinosaur Bones 

by Susan Lendroth; illus. by Bob Kolar

(Board book)

Here we go digging for dinosaur bones, dinosaur bones, dinosaur bones….

In this book, young paleontologists will join scientists as they head out on a fossil dig – and you might find yourself singing along to the tune of “Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush.” Short sidebars on each spread tell more about fossils and the scientists who find them. And at the back there’s suggestions for acting out the song – great for getting kids moving after reading the book. 

Susan Lendroth and Bob Kolar teamed up on an earlier book, Hey-Ho, to Mars We'll Go! which I discuss over at the GROG. I love their light-hearted way of making science fun and accessible. 

Lia & Luis: Puzzled! (Storytelling Math) 

by Ana Crespo; illus. by Giovana Medeiros

32 pages; ages 3-6 

Lia and Luis receive a package from their grandma. Inside there’s a puzzle … with a secret message.

I am a sucker for secret messages – I mean, who among us has never sent a note in code? But this secret message is the sort of puzzle that must be solved by putting the pieces together. As with any spy novel – or mystery show – there is a time crunch. The twins are trying to put puzzle pieces together while their mom is trying to get them dressed and ready to leave. 

What clues are in the puzzle? Why is mom in such a hurry? And what’s the best way to do a puzzle anyway: corners or edges? Colors or design? What I love about this book (and others in the series) is that there are activities at the back to explore the math concepts – in this case, geometry and sorting. And what I like about this book in particular is the inclusion of Brazilian Portuguese words. Want more Storytelling Math? Check out this post over at the GROG.

Wombat 

by Philip Bunting 

40 pages; ages 2-5 

Wombat. Twobats. Threebats. Morebats.

From youngbats to oldbats, no bat is left out of this silly love story. It is a fun way to play with words, with rhymes (stinkbats and winkbats) and opposites (roundbats and squarebats) and even some compare and contrast (fruitbat and cricketbat). 

This book would be great to pair with Wombat, by Christopher Cheng or Abi Cushman’s not-so-serious guide: Wombats Are Pretty Weird.

Beyond the Books:

Dig for Dinosaurs. Bury some plastic dinosaurs in a sandbox or part of the beach and let kids dig them up while singing “this is the way we excavate, excavate, excavate ….”

Make your own message puzzle. Glue a drawing or photo onto a sheet of cardstock. Once it’s dry, write a message on the back side. Then cut it into puzzle pieces and put it into an envelope, and give it to a friend. You can also do this with extra-large postcards.

Play with animal words and see where they take you. For example, bluebird might lead to truebird or redbird or …. And what about bigfoot (which may or may not be a real animal?) or meercat? 

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publisher.

Women Invent Solutions!

March is Women’s History Month and today I’m reviewing books that highlight the contributions of women in STEM. 

theme: women’s history, invention, math

Josephine and Her Dishwashing Machine: Josephine Cochrane's Bright Invention Makes a Splash 

by Kate Hannigan; illus. by Sarah Green 

40 pages; ages 7-10

Calkins Creek, 2023

Josephine Garis Cochran was a modern woman who wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.

But, one night after a dinner party she’d had enough of dirty hands – and dirty dishes! There must be a better way, she mused. Inventors were busy at work, devising machines and tinkering with electricity and even making a telephone. So Josephine decided to invent a machine to wash dishes.

What I like about this book: I love the language. There’s alliteration: saucers and soup bowls, tested and tinkered, pushed and persevered. There’s rhyme: pliers and wires. And I like the emphasis on revising, reworking, and rethinking.

Josephine’s first machine doesn’t work well at all, but she learned from her mistakes. And each time she redesigned her machine, she fixed a problem until at last – she had a working dishwashing machine!

I like that there is back matter: an author’s note about dishwashers and Josephine, and an introduction to more than a dozen notable women inventors. There’s also a timeline of “fascinating inventions” and a whole bunch of resources for kids who want to learn more.

The Brilliant Calculator: How Mathematician Edith Clarke Helped Electrify America 

by Jan Lower; illus. by Susan Reagan

40 pages; ages 7-10

Calkins Creek, 2023

Edith Clarke devoured numbers. Conquered calculations. Cracked puzzles.

She loves math, and dreams of building dams and bridges. Instead, she is sent to boarding school to learn manners and music and finished her schooling at the dawn of the twentieth century. Cars are on the road, inventors are testing flying machines – and Edith sees a place for her and her math in these new modern times.

She teaches physics, and eventually begins work as a human “computer” with engineers who are stringing the first phone wires across America. Why do voices fade on wires as distances grow? Edith finds out. In her free time she tackles problems related to electrical transmission lines, invents a tool that helps engineers solve problems faster, and sets the stage for our modern “smart electric grid.”

What I like about this book: One of my favorite spreads is the city street, with wires crossing every which way and a biplane above. Equations are integrated into the buildings to show how Edith saw the world. 

I also like the illustrations that show how she invented her calculating device and the pages that highlight quotes from Edith’s own writing. And there is back matter: an author’s note about Edith and more about her contributions to engineering; a timeline of Edith’s life; glossary; and short bios about more women mathematicians, inventors, and engineers.

Beyond the Books:

Learn more about women inventors. Need a place to start? Check out this post on A Mighty Girl blog.

Find out how modern dishwashers work. If you have one, take a good look inside – maybe the owner’s manual has some drawings. Or you can check out this video.

Be an inventor. What job do you do that you would like to see done mechanically? Invent a way! Think about what needs to be done, and how it could be done. Then draw up your invention designs.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. 

Because these books appeal to older readers as well, we’ll be over at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, too. That happens at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Info-Graph Your Thanksgiving Meal!

If you want to keep track of how the seasons change, your favorite lunches, or keep track of all the food you eat at Thanksgiving (and even the time it takes to make it), all you need is a pencil and a scrap of paper. 

But if you want to impress your neighbor with the numbers, you might need a bit more – a way to share your information so people can understand it in a glance. And that way is through infographics ~ a combination of math, art, and communication. To explain your Thanksgiving meal you might want to use a time line to show how long it took to prepare the food. And you’ll definitely need a pie graph to compare the kinds of pies you ate!

Here are two books that show and tell how to make infographics. They might even inspire kids to keep track of the interesting (and even mundane) things in their lives.

Life Log: Track Your Life with Infographic Activities Diary 

by Lea Redmond; illus. by Andrea Tsurumi

96 pages; ages 8-12

Chronicle Books, 2022 

Life Log is a guided workbook for infographic exploration. It opens with an introduction to the basics: what infographics is, how a key works, and the lowdown on facts and data. There are pie charts, rainbow charts, timelines, and lots of great questions. All the book asks is for curious kids to bring a bunch of colored pencils and a willingness to visualize information in a new way. 

My favorites: tracking a tree, how long a pencil lasts, and a month of insect encounters. This book is a great way to jump into creating graphs and charts.

Or you could keep track of how regularly you "ate the rainbow" of vegetables and fruits suggested in daily servings.

Show and Tell! Great Graphs and Smart Charts: An Introduction to Infographics 

by Stuart J. Murphy; illus. by Teresa Bellón    

48 pages; ages 7-10

‎Charlesbridge, 2022  

Bar graphs, line graphs, pictographs, and pie charts can show a lot of information in a single glance. But which do you use, and when? Let’s say you want to find out more about lunchroom food. If you want to know what meals kids like the most, you could conduct a survey and display the results in a bar graph. If you wanted to compare the number of entrees served during a lunch period, you might draw a pie graph. (yes, you can create pie alamode graphs if you really want to) This book serves well as an introduction to charts and graphs, and ends with a list of things kids can use infographic techniques to explore.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Explore .... Indoors with Sock Science!

On any other Wednesday we'd be heading outside to do a nature break. But this week I wanted to play around with some sock science (and math). Because it's that time of year when you might need a snow day activity. Or maybe just something to do on an otherwise dreary day. 

When my kids were littles, their "laundry job" was matching socks. It's a great way to develop math and science thinking. Sometimes we'd roll sock pairs into balls and play sock-hockey in the kitchen or "toss the sox in a box." Here's some other sock science to play around with:

Red Sock, Blue Sock

If you have a bunch of unmatched socks hanging around, how many pairs can you make out of them? Let’s say you have six misfit socks: blue (B), yellow (Y), green (G), purple (P), stripes (S), and dots (D). Six socks means three pairs, but you can create more than three combinations. Think about what you can mix with blue: BY, BG, BP, BS, and BD. That’s five potential combinations. Then, if you look at combinations with yellow (but not counting BY because you already have it) you could get four more: YG, YP, YS, and YD. How many new combinations can you get with the green sock? Purple sock? Striped sock? If you add all the potential combinations together, how many are there?

Secret Sock Codes 

Socks exist in two states: rolled up and flat. That makes them perfect for creating coded messages, like Morse code which uses combinations of dots and dashes. What if you use a rolled sock as a “dot” and a flat sock as a “dash” to create messages? For example, an A would be a rolled sock followed by a flat sock. I would need seven socks to spell my name in Morse sock code. But ... you don't have to stick with Sam's code. You can make your own Secret Sock Code.

Do Socks Fly?

One little-studied sock phenomenon is flight behavior. While rolled socks have been used as substitute hockey pucks, snowballs, and hacky sacks, I don’t know of any studies that compare how well socks fly under various conditions. Perhaps you will be the first to document such things as how far socks fly when they are rolled up or flat, wet, dry, or frozen. To be totally consistent, you’d need to create a launching device.. perhaps a rubber-band catapult?

Further Sock Research

There are tons of fun books about socks, ducks (or others ) that wear socks, and even how to make socks. But here are a few of my favorites:

Odd socks by Michelle Robinson

Five stinky socks by Jim Benton.

Have you seen my new blue socks? by Eve Bunting

Ducks don't wear socks by John Nedwidek

A sock is a pocket for your toes by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon

note: these activities were first published as part of my "Archimedes Notebook" science column in Ithaca Child, Fall 2017.

When Socks go Missing

The average person loses 15 socks a year. That’s 1,264 over a lifetime! At the average cost of $2/sock, that can really add up. 

The mystery of sock disappearance is so perplexing, that in 2016 Samsung commissioned psychologist Simon Moore and statistician Geoff Ellis to figure out why our socks go missing in the wash. After surveying about 2,000 households in the UK, they developed the Sock Loss Index (SLI): 

In the formula, 'L' stands for 'laundry size' which is calculated by multiplying the number of people in the household (p) with the frequency of washes in a week (f).

'C' stands for the 'washing complexity.' This includes how many types of wash (t) households do in a week (darks and whites) multiplied by the number of socks washed in a week (s). Although, who among us counts the number of socks we toss into the hamper?

The second part is the product of the “positivity” (P) of doing the laundry times the degree of attention (A). Positivity is measured on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being “hates doing the laundry” to 5 being “loves doing laundry”. To calculate Attention, add how many of these things you do at the start of each laundry. Do you check pockets? Unroll sleeves? Turn clothes right-side out? Here’s a video of the scientists explaining how they calculated the SLI.

Then there’s the completely different problem of where socks go when they disappear. Here are some locations people often find lost socks: one sock still in the hamper; dropped by or between washer and dryer; under the bed or couch; in a shoe; in someone else’s drawer; in a toy box; outside (taken by pet or fallen off a line); clinging to another piece of clothing (we once found a sock weeks later stuck in a sleeve!); or in the lost socks box. Where do your lost socks go?

Drop by on Wednesday for some Sock Science!

Much of this post comes from my "Archimedes Notebook" column in Ithaca Child, 2017.

Reading, Writing, and Artithmechicks

In our area, families are taking in the last bit of summer vacation or shopping the back-to-school sales. In other places, students have been in the classroom for a couple weeks. And elsewhere, students may be counting down the days to September break. But no matter where you are in the world, school means Reading and Writing and Arithmechicks. Wait! What?

theme: math, coding, humor

Arithmechicks Take a Calculation Vacation: A Math Story 

by Ann Marie Stephens; illus. by Jia Liu 

32 pages; ages 3-7

‎Astra Young Readers, 2022  

10 chicks plus 1 mouse bounce to the beach. Mama leads the way.

It’s vacation time! And these chicks have lots of beach activities planned: sandcastle construction, volleyball, lounging in the sun, and some wave-riding. Even salty beaks and sandy feathers don’t stop them from having fun.

What I like about this book:

This is a great resource for teachers, homeschoolers, and parents who are looking for a fun way to introduce equations. Each page shows a different way to add – or subtract – the number of chicks, whether it’s climbing a tree for coconuts or falling off a surfboard. Back matter explains how to combine three numbers into math fact families:  2 addition facts + 2 subtraction facts = 4 facts in a family. There are more books in the Arithmechicks series; check out my review here.

What's Branching?: A Birthday Adventure! 

by Kaitlyn Siu; illus. by Marcelo Badari 

32 pages; ages 3+

‎Kane Miller Books / EDC Publishing, 2022

What’s branching? Let’s find out! We’ll help super robot Pixel plan a perfect party for Jet, and learn cool coding skills while we do. 

Jet loves being outside, so a party in the park sounds perfect. But what if it rains? Pixel makes backup plans: if it rains, then we’ll …..  In coding, writing backup plans using if/then statements  is called branching. We do this a lot in everyday life. Like planning a hike – and if it looks like rain, packing a poncho.

What I like about this book:

The graphics make it easy to understand the coding concepts introduced: branching, debugging a program. Back matter includes a simple matching game for if/then statements, a glossary, and a guide for teachers and parents. I also like that this book is part of a series (First Steps in CODING) and other books present algorithms, sequencing, loops, and more.

Beyond the Books:

Incorporate some math into your daily life. Use math language to talk about things like hanging the laundry: two socks on the line plus one more sock is ….. or stack blocks in a pyramid. 3 blocks on the bottom plus 2 plus 1 on top equals… And what happens when 2 block leave?  Check out this post for more books that incorporate math literacy.

Create some simple coding games. With this one all you need is a deck of cards, some toys, tape…. or you can make a grid and ask your friend to code a path around the obstacles.

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a weekly event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

A Pair of Browsable Books

Lo and behold, I have found a bunch of books published last year that were stuck in the back of my book basket. Here’s a couple that make good snow-day browsing for the 7-10-year-old crowd. (With remote learning, will Snow Days become a thing of the past?)

Small but Mighty: Why Earth’s Tiny Creatures Matter 

by Kendra Brown; illus. by Catarina Oliveira 

32 pages; ages 7-10

‎Owlkids, 2021

Lions and whales and grizzlies get a lot of press. Just look at all the books about these magnificent, large beasts. But here’s the thing: some of the smallest animals on our planet make the biggest impacts. Bees, ants, flies, and krill (featured last week) play important roles in their environments. They are involved in so many different jobs, from pollinating to decomposing to being the base of the ocean’s food web. You might not pay them much attention, but without them other, larger species can’t survive.

What I like about this book: Twelve species are featured, each with their own spread that includes a photo. There’s also an illustration showing their actual size in a way that kids can easily relate to: the size of a pencil eraser, a dinner plate, a grain of sand. The last spread shows the important role kids (relatively small animals) can play in keeping our planet a safe place for small things. And there’s a glossary for words that might be unfamiliar to younger readers.

The Book of Math, Adventures in the world of shapes and numbers

by Anna Weltman; illus. by Paul Boston

96 pages; ages 7-up

Kane Miller Books, 2021

This browsable book contains stories of famous mathematicians, introduces a plant that can count, includes secret codes, and presents some cool math tricks. Those are exactly the sorts of things I would have loved learning as a kid (instead of flash cards and long division). I am positive that, had my math teacher even suggested that plants and ants can count, I would have been intrigued enough to learn more. And if they’d shown the secret spirals in nature and secret codes, I would have been hooked.

What I like about this book: I like the graphics, including charts, graphs, and timelines. I like the way you can just drop in anywhere and explore some aspect of math. And I like the games, puzzles, things to try, and things to make.

If you are looking for math resources for younger children, check out the Storytelling Math series in this GROG blog post. Another wonderful math resource is Bedtime Math, where kids can find their daily math fix.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Books that explore Math

Warning: School days are closer than they look on the calendar! So today I’m sharing two books that brush up on math concepts in a fun way. The first takes us deep into the rainforest.

theme: math, biodiversity, comparisons

Tree of Wonder: The Many Marvelous Lives of a Rainforest Tree
by Kate Messner; illus by Simona Mulazzani
pages 36 ; ages 5-8
Chronicle Books, paperback edition, 2020

Deep in the forest, in the warm-wet green, ONE ALMENDRO TREE grows, stretching its branches toward sun.

Flip a page and it’s two macaws, then four toucans, then eight howler monkeys. Can you see a pattern here? There are snakes, frogs, butterflies, and ants! So many cool animals to look at and count.

What I like about this book: Three-quarters of the spread is given to lyrical text and detailed illustrations of the tree and the animals that live in and around it. Then a panel shows the number (four), the correct number of animals (four toucan icons), and an additional layer of text providing more facts about the animal. I love how the last page brings it all back together: 

Life multiplies again and again … in this ONE ALMENDRO TREE.

Back matter provides more information about the Almendro tree, more playing around with math, and resources to read, watch, and explore for kids who want to know more about the rainforest.

Comparisons Big and Small
by Clive Gifford; illus. by Ana Seixas
48 pages; ages 5 and up
Kane Miller, 2020

 Did you know that a spinner dolphin can jump higher than a double-decker bus?

If you’re looking for a fun way to introduce comparisons, this book is filled with ‘em. Each spread focuses on one type of comparison: length, speed, weight. What I like about this book is that it is browseable – perfect for the kid who wants to dive in at random and explore a page. Vertical spreads offer interactive ways to interact with the book. And there are plenty of “quick quizzes” scattered throughout. Some of my favorite sections are about bugs, comparing countries, being a dino detective, and space stuff. For sports buffs there’s a section about record-breaking throws, and lots of comparisons on how fast animals can run and how high they can jump.

Beyond the Books:

How fast can you run? Mark a starting place on the sidewalk or playground, then have a friend with a watch time you for 10 seconds. Measure the distance you covered. Then compare how far you went in that time to how far other animals can go: a caterpillar? your cat or dog? a beetle?

Compare the heights of people in your home or classroom. Compare how far people can throw a tennis ball. What other things can you compare?

Try some doubling math. Get one hundred things to use as counters: dry beans, pennies, macaroni elbows, beads, legos. Then line up five or six bowls. Put two counters in the first bowl. Then put four in the next. Double that number for bowl # 3. When do you run out of counters? Bonus: if you got a penny on the first day of September, and every day after that you got double the number of pennies (day 2 = 2 pennies, day 3 = 4 and so on) how much money would you have by the end of the month?

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Jefferson Measures a Moose

Jefferson Measures a Moose
By Mara Rockliff; illustrated by S. D. Schindler
48 pages; ages 6 - 9
Candlewick, 2020

theme: US history, math, Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson loved asking questions about NUMBERS.

He wanted to know how far an hour’s walk was, how long it took to grow peas, and even how much it cost to see a monkey. So when a famous Frenchman wrote that American birds didn’t know how to sing and American animals were just too small, that got Jefferson’s dander up.

After all – had that Frenchman measured American animals? Or weighed them? Or even seen them? No. No. And no! Jefferson would show him that American animals were every bit as big – and maybe bigger – than French animals. He would measure a Moose!

What I like about this book: I love the light-hearted poke at history, and the way author Mara Rockliff works in the reality that measuring a moose is harder than it sounds. I particularly like the back matter. “A Mania for Math” provides a closer look at Jefferson’s love of numbers and his desire to present facts. Another section answers many of the questions that Jefferson asked.

Beyond the Books:

How big is a moose? Find out and, if you can, create a paper cut-out to show its size. How big are you compared to a moose? What about your parents? The family car?

How far do you walk in an hour? Jefferson walked just a bit over four miles in an hour. If you and Jefferson met at the flagpole of your school, and began walking to the edge of town, where would you be after three hours? Where would Jefferson be?

How long does it take for a pea to grow? The best way to find out is to plant peas and note when the first ripe pod is ready to eat. Extra credit: do different kinds of peas take longer than others to ripen?

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website.  Review copy provided by the publisher.

Numbers in Motion

Numbers In Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics 
 by Laurie Wallmark; illus. by Yevgenia Nayberg
32 pages; ages 8-12
Creston Books, 2020

themes: biography, math, women in history

Sophie carefully pulled the string, and the top spun across her desk.

But Sophie’s not a kid playing with the top. She is a mathematics professor and she is trying to describe the tops rotation in an equation. It’s a difficult problem, and many others have tried – and failed. But Sophie won’t give up. If she succeeds, “her math might help scientists calculate the path of planets,” writes author Laurie Wallmark.

What I like about this book: The minute you open the cover, you know you’re in “mathland” – the end page (also serving as title page) is graph paper. I like that Laurie introduces me to a woman in math who is not well-known. And she doesn’t make light of the challenges Sophie faced, wanting to attend college at a time when women were not allowed in the lecture rooms. And I like the message of hope this book gives to girls interested in numbers.

Laurie ends with an author’s note about Sophie, and more about her math (partial differential equations). There’s also a cool bit about the many spellings of Sophie’s name due to transliterating names from the Cryllic alphabet to Roman alphabet.

This is Laurie's fourth book about a Woman in STEM, so I had to ask her One Question ~

Archimedes:  How did you come to choose Sophie as a subject for a book?

Laurie: I've loved math ever since I was a kid, so I wanted to write about someone who was known for her mathematical discoveries, not just computer scientists who were also mathematicians. I had never heard of Sophie before, but I came across her when researching possible subjects. I chose her for two reasons: First, her work on the rotation of solid bodies--like planets, footballs, and tops--was something kids could relate to. Second, the problem she solved was called a mathematical mermaid, and I thought kids would find that fun.

Beyond the Books:

Learn more about Sophie Kowalevski here.

Make your own spinners! Try turning an old CD and a marker into a simple spinner - here's how.
Or construct a top using Lego pieces. For a real challenge, fold a spinning top out of a piece of origami paper. Here’s a video showing how.

Laurie Wallmark is a member of #STEAMTeam2020. You can find out more about her at her website.  Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

This Math is For the Birds

Today's books play around with math. But before I get to them, I want to announce a fun costume contest - with PRIZES!

You can find rules for the contest here. Get creative! Have fun!
and now, for the books....

Don’t call these mathematicians “bird brains” – because they are busy solving problems.
theme: math, birds, imagination

Arithmechicks Add Up: A Math Story
by Ann Marie Stephens; illus. by Jia Liu
32 pages; ages 4-8
Boyds Mills Press, 2019

10 chicks head off to play.

Cheeping and chattering, they count rocks, flowers, and how many steps it takes to reach the park. Once there, they play – and add. With three chicks swinging high into the air, and six more at the lowest vertex of the arc, there are nine in all, swooshing through the air – while one holds up a scorecard so we can keep count.

What I like about this book: This is a great resource for teachers, homeschoolers, and parents who are looking for a fun way to introduce the idea of addition. Each spread shows a different way to add up the chicks – and back matter explains the different ways that you can use to represent addition. Most of us are familiar with basic equations and tally marks, but this book includes number bonds, counting on fingers (or feathers, depending on your species), number lines, and more.

Pigeon Math
by Asia Citro; illus. by Richard Watson
40 pages; ages 5-10
The Innovation Press, 2019

One bright and sunny morning, ten pigeons…

… well, there were ten pigeons sitting on the line until they got distracted by some bees – or maybe wasps – flying by. Still, some return to the line so the narrator continues the story. But this time he begins with four pigeons…

Wait! Pigeons are coming back! Now the narrator has to begin all over again. I’m sure the poor narrator has a story to tell, but with pigeons coming and going, will we ever get past the first line? Before pigeon bedtime? Meanwhile, there’s addition and subtraction happening all over the place.

What I like about this book: It’s funny, and fun to read out loud because every time you get settled and think the story will start there’s a …
           Hey! Wait! What do you think you’re doing?
….interruption. A great interactive read-aloud that offers plenty of opportunities to ask: how many flew away? How many came back? How many are there now?

Beyond the Books:

Make up your own story that involves some math – with or without birds. It could be about things you find outside, a tree losing its leaves, or anything that strikes your fancy. But definitely have some fun with it! Draw some pictures to go with it. Then share it with a friend.

Pigeons can count! Yes, scientists have really studied this, and counting might come in handy if you wanted to, for example, know how many eggs you had in your nest. Here’s an article about the pigeon study.

Birds can solve problems. You’ve probably heard about crows figuring out how to open containers or use hooks to get food. This National Geographic video shows a grackle solving problems.

Bird smarts are as much nature as nurture. Sure, your parents can teach you basic stuff like how to sing a tune. But city birds seem to learn more than their country cousins. Or maybe they just have more problems to deal with…

Today we're joining other book bloggers over at STEM Friday, where you can discover other cool STEM books. And we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Books that celebrate Patterns in Nature

theme: patterns, nature, observation

Spot, Spike, Spiral (Board book)
by Sarah Grace Tuttle; illus. by Miriam Nerlove
28 pages; ages 2-4
Creative Editions, 2019 

Spot. Spike. Spiral.

This book introduces nine spotted, spiked, or spiraled creatures. The text is simple, the art vibrant and richly detailed. Pages invite you to linger and study the colors and patterns of the blue poison dart frog, the wattle cup caterpillar, the rainbow millipede.

What I like about this book: I love the vibrant watercolor illustrations. I love the way Miriam Nerlove captures texture and movement. And I like the simplicity of the text. Spot. Spike. Spiral. What I really like, though, is the last spread that shows each of the animals featured in the book.

This is a wonderful companion to their earlier book, Dot, Stripe, Squiggle, published last August. That book introduced young observers to nine sea creatures, from red-spotted blennies to zebra lionfish and sea nettles. What both books do well is to shine a light on the simple shapes and patterns that children can see in their environment. Even if they don’t remember the names of the beetles, mollusks, or fish, children will recognize spots and squiggles, spikes and spirals.

Flow, Spin, Grow: Looking for Patterns in Nature
by Patchen Barss; illus. by Todd Stewart
32 pages; ages 4 - 8
Owlkids, 2018

Look, climb, dig, flow. Breathe in deep, around you go. 
Twirl, whirl, swirl, grow….

A poetic line? Or suggestions for exploration? Each spread takes a word and expands on it. Look – for patterns. Climb – a tree. And as you do, notice how the limbs and branches split. Nature is in motion, spinning, twirling around the sun, and those whirls and swirls are echoed in the spirals we find in pine cones, sea shells, plant tendrils.

What I like about this book: It invites you to move, to observe, to participate in the world around us. The text connects and compares: winding streams to the spreading branches of a tree to the branches of the bronchi and bronchioles that carry air into our lungs.

Back matter compares patterns of a giraffe’s coat to tree bark to cracked mud. “Be watchful,” writes author Patchen Barrs. “Ask questions. Make connections.”

Beyond the Book

Go on a nature walk to find patterns in nature. This blog post has ideas of things to look for.

Have a scavenger hunt. How many of these patterns can you find?

• star shapes
• coils
• round things
• spirals
• branching
• cracking
• stripes
• spots
• spikes
• squiggles
• zig-zags

Look for spikes and patterns on caterpillars and butterflies. Use this guide to help you.

Today we're joining other book bloggers over at STEM Friday, where you can discover other cool STEM books. And we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website . Review copies provided by publishers.

Snowman - Cold = Puddle

In some places spring is already poking through. Not where I live - that won't happen for another month. Maybe more, given the unpredictable nature of this winter ... But I couldn't wait for things to totally thaw to share this book, published just a couple weeks ago.

Snowman - Cold = Puddle
By Laura Purdie Salas; illus. by Micha Archer
32 pages; ages 4-8
Charlesbridge, 2019

themes: spring, math, nature

science + poetry = surprise!

"Science is why and how a flower grows," writes Laura Purdie Salas. "Poetry is looking at that flower and seeing a firework." This book may look like math, but it is poetry in disguise. Laura takes us on a seasonal deep dive, exploring spring through a series of equations.

snowman - cold = puddle
breeze + kite = ballet
1 dandelion X 1 breath = 100 parachutes

Smaller text includes more information about these seasonal observations, along with context. For example, dandelions depend on wind to spread their seeds. And some of those seeds can travel hundreds of miles before settling down.

What I like love about this book: What a fun way to explore a season! And turning math into poetry is definitely a plus. I like that she includes a variety of math functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication) and divides her poem into three acts: early, mid-, and late spring. I like that there are two levels of reading this book, the math-poetry and the nature notes.

I love the artwork! In her notes at the back of the book, Micha Archer says that for her spring = color. She used collage to create the illustrations, layering tissue papers, using crayon-rubbing resists with watercolor washes, carving her own stamps, then snipping, slicing, and gluing down the papers. She used oil paints to add the children's faces.

But what I really, really, really love about this book is the equation she has left readers to solve on the very last page.

you + the world = ?

Beyond the Book:

Look for signs of spring in your neighborhood. When does it start? and how do you know? My calendar says spring begins March 20 (despite groundhog predictions).

Make some spring math-poetry of your own. Turn some of your observations into equations. Remember, early spring, mid-spring, late spring... it takes awhile for spring to arrive. Here's my early spring math-poem (from last year): ice - cold = mud.

Spring = color. That's what Micha says. Gather (or make) papers in the spring colors you see and create your own collage art.

Make a map of spring emerging. For a different way to experience the season, try mapping the changes. Here's one way - or come up with your own way to map the seasonal changes.

Today we're joining other book bloggers over at STEM Friday, where you can discover other cool STEM books. And we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website . Review copy provided by publisher.