The "Wow" Factor
By Lisa Von Drasek

For Lisa's new audiobook picks click here.

No classroom teacher needs convincing of the benefits of using children's picture books in his or her math program. As Marilyn Burns, the creator and founder of Math Solutions Professional Development (www.mathsolutions.com), and the author of The Greedy Triangle (Scholastic, 1996, ISBN: 0-590-48991-7), says, "Evidence shows that teaching math through children's books motivates children to learn math in exciting new ways; encourages students to think and reason mathematically and builds students' appreciation for math and literature."

What to look for
When evaluating which books to incorporate in a math lesson, consider the criteria set forth by the following educators. David Whitin, who teaches mathematics education courses for undergraduate and graduate students in elementary education at Queens College, City University of New York, wrote, "Any book that has some intriguing mathematical possibilities must be judged, first and foremost, as a worthy piece of literature. It must be marked by an engaging story line, beautiful language and a sense of wonder about the world." (Whitin, D., and Whitin, P. "What Counts in Math-Related Books for Children." Journal of Children's Literature, Vol. 27, No. 1 (2001): 49-55.)

In their article "Making Informed Choices: Selecting Children's Trade Books for Mathematics Instruction" (Teaching Children Mathematics, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2000): 138-143), Stacey J. Hellwig, Eula Ewing Monroe and James S. Jacobs provide a framework for evaluation of picture books that present math concepts accuracy, visual and verbal appeal, connections, audience and the "wow" factor. Are the concepts presented in the book accurate? Do the illustrations and text engage the reader? Can the reader or listener find real-world connections in the way the concepts are presented? Are the concepts presented in a way to engage the specific audience? And, finally, does it have the "wow" factor, that barely definable attribute that "draws the reader to new heights, stirs new ideas and adds rich, multilayered connections to existing knowledge"?

A math literature library
The following current math titles are wonderful examples of the above criteria.

My introduction to Stuart Murphy's Math Start series was A Pair of Socks: Matching (HarperCollins, 1996, ISBN: 0-060-25879-9). This book supports young students in learning about pairs, patterns and differences. In his newest title, Leaping Lizards (Harper Collins, 2005, 0-060-00130-5), we witness brightly colored lizards gathering by fives and eventually reaching 50 for the finale, The Fifty Leaping Lizards Show. Stuart provides extension activities for counting by fives and 10s. This book boasts accurate concepts supported by cheery illustrations.

Arithme-Tickle: An Even Number of Odd Riddle-Rhymes by J. Patrick Lewis (Harcourt, 2002, ISBN: 0-152-16418-9). The 18 math riddles in light verse give kids a fun opportunity to work their math muscles. My favorite is Finger Play – It shows a really cool trick for multiplying by nines.

In How Many Birds Flew Away: A Counting Book with a Difference by Paul Giganti, Jr. (Greenwillow, 2005, ISBN: 0-060-00762-1), we count and subtract real-life examples – bluebirds and blackbirds, pockets and buttons on jackets, lunch bags and lunch boxes. The boldly colored paintings accurately reflect the concepts…with one exception. We are asked in one spread, "How many girls? How many boys?" Perhaps the gender clues were longer hair and lighter clothing colors, but for me those indicators are a bit stereotypical.

Greg Tang serves up Math Potatoes: Mind-stretching Brain Food (Scholastic, 2005, ISBN: 0-439-44390-3). Tang presents riddles in rhyming couplets, challenging the reader to use three strategies: The first is smart sums, looking for numbers like 10 and 15 that are easy to work with. The second is to find patterns and symmetries and the third strategy is to look for groups of equal size.

Minnie's Diner: A Multiplying Menu by Dayle Ann Dodds (Candlewick, 2004, ISBN: 0--763-6176-9) is a rhyming story of five brothers who abandon their farm chores, one by one lured by the smells wafting from the local diner. With its fun plot line and comical illustrations by John Manders, this one definitely has that "wow" factor.

Additional resources
A great guide to integrating picture books into math lessons is the book Teaching Math with Favorite Picture Books: Hands-on Activities and Reproducibles to Teach Math Using More Than 25 Picture Books by Judi Hechtman and Deborah Ellermeyer with Sandra Ford Grove (Scholastic Professional Books, ISBN: 0-590-76250-8). The authors present lesson plans for books that are obvious picks like Donald Crew's Ten Black Dots to introduce number sense and numeration. They suggest having students create their own number books modeled on the example.

The authors also recommend The Tangram Magician By Lisa Campbell Ernst and Lee Ernst (Blue Apple Books, 2005, ISBN: 1-593-54106-6), the new edition of which includes a seven-piece foam tangram, handily stored in the cover, to support learning geometry and spatial sense as well as recognizing patterns and relationships.

And for a terrific PreK-2 math booklist, go to www.pbs.org/teachersource/recommended/math/bk_PreK-2.shtm

For Lisa's new audiobook picks click here.

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Lisa Von Drasek is Children's Librarian at the Bank Street College of Education in New York, NY.

January, 2006, Vol.36, No.4