Math Play for Winter Days

I believe that if you want to learn about something, you need to play around with it. Unfortunately, some folks take math too seriously. I think it was the flashcard drills that killed my math curiosity … a curiosity that was rekindled by a 7th grade teacher who introduced me to geometry and logic games. So today’s books are about math play.

theme: math, measuring, logic

César's Cerulean Surprise (Storytelling Math) 

by Jenny Lacika; illus. by Laura Sandoval Herrera 

32 pages; ages 3-6

‎Charlesbridge, 2025

César is excited. Today is Gabi’s birthday. 

Gabi gets a huge box of crayons as a gift, and César really, really, really wants to use one to color his picture. Just one special crayon. This one? Asks Gabi? That one? Instead of letting her brother grab the crayon he wants from the box, Gabi uses a series of questions to discover which one he wants. 

What I like about this book: Reading this book reminded me of all those games of 20 questions we used to play on road trips. Dad would begin: I’m thinking of something… and we had to figure it out by asking questions that could be answered Yes or No.

In this book, Gabi presents opportunities for her brother to determine whether the crayon he wants (Cerulean) is in the box of glitter colors or in the rainbow of blues she arranges. The math: logic and binary choices – a good beginning for any kid who might want to talk to a computer in its native Binary. The other thing – that I love about all the Storytelling Math books – is the hands-on activity at the back. I also like that this book sprinkles Español throughout the pages.

Measuring Me! 

by Nicola Kent 

32 pages; 4-6

Kane Miller Book Pub, 2024

My body is amazing. 

Why? Because it’s as tall as ten tuna tins. It weighs more than all the laundry in the basket. From the smallest bone to the largest bone to how much energy you generate, this book helps you measure yourself.

What I like about this book: I like that it looks at different ways to measure something. Such as how many eyes, ears, noses and toes you have. It might just have kids stacking cans and using the bathroom scale to make comparisons. 

Beyond the Books:

Play a round or two of 20 Questions. The basic rule of play is that one person thinks of something and other people ask questions that can be answered Yes or No in an effort to narrow down what it is. Check out this post for more.

Take that idea of yes/no and translate it into zeros and ones… this is the basis of binary code. Then use binary code to write your name. Here’s how, from Science Friday.

Find five ways to measure how tall you are. Then measure someone else in your family (pets included!)

Create your own system of measurement! Maybe it would measure distance, or weight, or volume.

We'll be joining Perfect Picture Book Friday when it resumes after the holidays. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

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.

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.

The Lost Forest

The Lost Forest 
by Phyllis Root; illus. by Betsy Bowen
40 pages; ages 4 - 9
Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2019

theme: maps, forests, wildlife

How do you lose a forest?

Especially when trees are so tall you can’t see their tops. So big it takes two or more people holding hands to reach around. You’d think a forest of trees like that would be easy to find – but in 1882, in Minnesota, a survey crew lost an entire forest. It disappeared right off their maps! Great news for the trees – they kept right on growing. Great news for the other plants and the animals living in the forest – they kept on raising seeds and babies and continuing their community of life.

For more than 75 years the mistake stayed on the map, protecting the trees from the lumberjacks’ saws and axes. Now the forest is protected and you can go visit 350-year old pines. So it is a lost-and-found forest, right?

What I like love about this book: I love the way Phyllis Root tells her story, with a sly wink to the reader. “If you were trying to turn this rollicking land into straight lines on paper, you might make a mistake,” she writes.  She reminds readers that the trees had never been lost. Neither had the orchids, porcupines, and other wild plants and animals. They knew exactly where they were!

I love the illustrations by Betsy Bowen. They pull you right into the woods. I like the endpages – maps of the township – and the plentitude of back matter. There you’ll find out more about old growth forests and some of the species you might find there. You can find out more about surveying, and there’s a fun section called “how to talk like a surveyor”.

Beyond the Books:

Map your backyard. Here’s a great blog post to inspire you. And another link.

Use legos to build a map of a place you know, or a place in a story. Get some ideas here.

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 the publisher.

Animals by the Numbers

Animals by the Numbers: a book of animal infographics
by Steve Jenkins
48 pages; ages 6-9
HMH, 2016

How much do all the humans on earth weigh? Without adding up everyone's weight, we have to make an estimate, and that comes to around 350 million tons. That's a lot, right?

So how much would all the insects on earth weigh? Best estimate of that comes to 100 billion tons - about 15 tons for every person on earth. To help put these huge numbers into context, Steve Jenkins creates infographics - charts, tables, diagrams, and graphs that illustrate information.

He uses bar graphs to compare how fast animals swim, fly, and run and how far animals jump. There are pie charts and "thermometer" graphs, maps and a very cool decision tree illustrating the sorts of things that might run through a small animal's mind when another creature approaches: does it look dangerous? Does it see me?

What I like about this book: it presents facts about animals in a fun way. Sure, you could read a page telling how fast different animals run, but a chart comparing those speeds makes you think about information in a different way. The way he presents the information is as fun as the questions he explores: how fast do critters have to flap their wings to stay airborne? How many hours a day do animals sleep compared to their waking time?

And, for us writers, Jenkins includes a pie chart showing how he spent his time making the book (5% spent staring into space).  Today's review is part of the STEM Friday roundup. Drop by STEM Friday blog for more science books and resources. Review copies provided by publisher.

Wild Outdoor Wednesday

Mark of a square bit of your yard  - a place you can let go wild for a couple months while you watch it. Measure off a square that is anywhere from one foot to one yard on each side. Pound in a stake or stick at each corner and tie a string around them to mark your square. If you have bright cloth or tape, mark the tops of the stakes so they don’t get mowed.

Now look closely at your square. Write down everything you find. Draw some pictures. Show the colors of what you see.

Remember to take your sketchbook or journal with unlined pages, something to draw and write with, and something to add color ~ watercolors, colored pencils, crayons, or markers.

Dinosaur Week - How Big Were Dinosaurs?

How Big Were Dinosaurs?

by Lita Judge

32 pages; ages 6-9

Roaring Brook Press, 2013

Theme: nonfiction, dinosaurs, comparisons

“Stalking, running, stomping, crushing. When we think of dinosaurs we think of huge monsters,” writes Lita Judge. “But how big were dinosaurs REALLY?”

Through text and illustrations, Judge puts dinosaur size into context. A Stegosaurus, she notes, weighed about as much as three cows. But those plates on his back made him look a lot bigger. And Microraptor? That little guys was no bigger than a chicken. Leaellynasaura was nearly as tall as your average Emperor penguin and Velociraptor was only the size of a dog. A large dog, mind you. One of the largest dinosaurs, Argentinosaurus, was as long as four school buses and weighed more than a herd of elephants – but most dinosaurs fell somewhat short of that.

What I like about this book: It’s fun. Judge uses size comparisons to relate cool facts about dinosaurs, and combines creative storytelling with her wonderful illustrations to share authentic information about these ancient reptiles. In her illustrations she places dinosaurs next to modern animals (and cars) to give some perspective on relative sizes, and provides a fold-out chart that compares dinosaurs to each other.

Judge knows her facts; she spent three summers as a teen, volunteering at dinosaur digs. But she also has fun with her illustrations, imbuing her dinos with great expressions and hints of personality. For example: Torosaurus, with a 10-foot skull, is not the sort of beast you could force into the veterinarian’s clinic.

Beyond the book: How big is big? Relative size is cool, but what does it look like on the ground? Create size comparisons with sidewalk chalk on the parking lot or sidewalk or wherever pavement can be found. Pace off the size of various dinos and draw a line from nose to tail. Use different colors of chalk. Then you can do your own comparisons: how many kids lying end-to-end? How many hopscotch courts? How many school buses can park on the hugest dino? How long does it take to run from one end to the other (you need a stopwatch). Can you toss a beanbag from nose to tail? How many leaping steps does it take? How many dinosaur lengths is it from your school door to the post office?

You can see out what other bloggers are reviewing over at the STEM Friday blog. Then amble over to Sally’s Bookshelf to check out If I Had a Raptor. Today's review is also part of PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at SusannaLeonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copy provided by publisher.