Summer Reading: Math for the Fun of It, Part 1 (Grades PreK-9)

Graphic: Andrew Ault

Here is a brief list of books from the ENC Math and Science Curriculum collection that make good summer reading, but are certainly appropriate for any time of the year.

Classroom Resources from the ENC Collection

1. The I hate mathematics! book
   Date: 1975 Grade(s): 5 - 8 Cost: $12.70 ENC#: 015927
   Some parents believe that it would take a miracle to make their children like math. This book could be that miracle. With intriguing chapters such as "Poison--A Friendly Game" and "How Many Sides Does a Banana Have," it is easy to see how this well-written and humorously illustrated book captivates its audience.
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2. Anno's math games II
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1989 Grade(s): 2 - 5 Cost: Out of Print ENC#: 009868
   Anno uses pictures and words to open the reader's eyes to numerical and spatial concepts. Chapter 1 draws the reader right into the fun of the book when Kris and Kross invent a Math Machine that can change things, and Anno leaves it up to the reader to figure out how the things are changed and what the machine has done to them. Other chapters deal with comparing, observing, and analyzing. This is a truly interactive book based on the premise that mathematics is a way of thinking.
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3. Ten beads tall
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1988 Grade(s): Pre-K - 1 Cost: $9.99 ENC#: 014374
   A measuring book that comes equipped with its own measuring instrument--a string of 10 colorful square beads--for careful and consistent measurements. The book includes lots of pictures of things to measure with the beads--a kangaroo, a rake, a rabbit, and even a house.
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4. The greedy triangle
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1994 Grade(s): K - 5 Cost: $15.95 ENC#: 009717
   With colors to dazzle your eyes and a sweet story, this book sneaks in a great lesson in geometry. The little triangle of this story becomes unhappy with his lot in geometry, and through the magical aid of a shape shifter, he gets to experience life in shapes of many sides and angles.
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5. One hundred hungry ants
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1993 Grade(s): K - 4 Cost: $16.00 ENC#: 009847
   What's the best way for 100 ants to get to a picnic? Is it in 1 line of 100? Or 2 lines of 50? Or perhaps 4 lines of 25? With a simple rhyming story and wonderful illustrations, this book teaches the lesson that slow dividers get to the picnic too late for goodies!
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6. Sir Cumference and the first round table: a math adventure
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1997 Grade(s): 1 - 5 Cost: $6.95 - $16.95 ENC#: 009844
   In days of old when knights were bold and the tables were all square, getting a group of knights to sit peacefully together was a geometric challenge, a challenge well met in this medieval math adventure. Trial and error, otherwise known as experimentation, are prominently presented in this book, which illustrates that answers do not always come quickly or easily.
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7. Anno's mysterious multiplying jar
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1983 Grade(s): 2 - 7 Cost: $19.99 ENC#: 007472
   The authors stuff a blue and white jar with one island, on which there are two countries, each of which has three mountains, each of which has four walled kingdoms, and so on. As the mathematical pattern emerges, this book will wow readers and educate them about the concept of factorials!
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8. The king's commissioners
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1994 Grade(s): 2 - 3 Cost: $15.95 ENC#: 009718
   It is not just what you are counting, but how you are counting it that gives you an answer you can understand. Children are taught about grouping numbers in this highly entertaining and picturesque book filled with a king, his commissioners and advisors, and a princess.
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9. The M&M's brand chocolate candies counting book
   Date: 1994 Grade(s): Pre-K - 2 Cost: $6.95 ENC#: 011535
   When you get the youngsters to ingest their numbers, it is possible that something more will stick to their fingers and lips than just the chocolate candy. Use these colorful candies to learn colors, learn about sets, make shapes for geometry, and add and subtract. Some ideas for learning are offered at the end of the book. It may be advertising, but it is also fun.
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10. What comes in 2's, 3's, and 4's?
    Date: 1990 Grade(s): Pre-K - 2 Cost: $15.00 ENC#: 016796
    What do numbers mean? What is their relevance besides being useful abstractions? Colorful, entertaining examples illustrate the 2s, 3s, and 4s that are part of everyday life--for instance, people have 2 eyes, a traffic signal has 3 lights, and a chair has 4 legs.
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11. The world in one day
    Featured in ENC Focus  
    Date: 1997 Grade(s): 4 - 9 Cost: Out of Print ENC#: 011774
    Surprising facts and figures give the reader a snapshot of what happens around the world in a single day. Sometimes fun and sometimes serious, these statistics make you wonder how anyone could ever gather them all. For example, the total weight of the more than 3 million babies born in the world every day is about equal to the weight of five blue whales. Enough eggs are produced each day to make an omelette big enough to cover the size of Cyprus. Spanning topics from plants and animals to world population and recycling, these numbers are interesting and thought-provoking.
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Want to read more about using literature to help children learn math and science? See the Literature in the Math and Science Classroom section of ENC Online. This part of the site presents a thoughtful examination of the use of children's trade books in teaching math and science, offers guidelines for choosing and using excellent literature books in mathematics and science classes, and provides a list of children's books as well as resources for teachers.