Children’s books with mathematics

themes
Math books
Compiled by Dr. Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham–Director of Math
Education Center, George Mason University.
Through reading these books, your children will have the
opportunity to build their reading and math abilities in
meaningful ways. Read each story many times, and be sure to talk
with your children about the math concepts used in the book.
When children can talk about math concepts, the concepts usually
make sense to them.
Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich last Sunday. Viorst, J. (1978) –
Last Sunday, Alexander received a dollar from his grandparents;
now, he only has bus tokens. Children can explore the concept of
money. (preschool-3)
Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream. Neuschwander, C. (1998) – This
book encourages children's transition from counting to skip
counting to multiplication–stresses importance of knowing
multiplication facts. (preschool-3)
Among the Odds & Evens. Turner, P. (1999) – X and Y travel to
the land of odd and even numbers where they find some unusual
patterns of behavior between these two groups of numbers.
(preschool-3)
Animals on Board. Murphy, S. J. (1998) – While driving her truck
carrying a very special load, Jill counts and adds (0 to 10) the
number of animals that she sees on trucks passing by. (baby-
preschool)
Anno's Counting Book. Anno, M. (1986) – The changing of the
seasons beautifully illustrates numbers 1-12 (preschool-3)
Anno's Magic Seeds. Anno, M. (1999) – Anno's Magic Seeds
demonstrates how an interesting story and interesting
mathematics problem can create a wonderful mathematical
situation. (K-3)
Anno's Math Games. Anno, M. (1997) – Anno's Math Games
shows students how to classify, graph, sequence, add, and
subtract. (1-6)
Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar. (1993) Anno, M., & Anno, M
–The concept of factorials is introduced through pictures and
illustrations showing their application to everyday situations.
(multiplication) (preschool-3)
Bear in a Square. Blackstone, S. (1998) – Bear in a Square
introduces children to basic concepts about 2-dimensional shapes.
(baby-preschool)
Benny's Pennies. Brisson, P. (1993) – What will Benny McBride
buy with five new pennies? Find the answer in this introduction to
money and counting. (K-2)
The Best Vacation Ever. Murphy, S. J. (1997) – A girl collects data
and makes charts to help her family decide where to go for the
best vacation ever. (preschool-3)
Betcha. Murphy, S. J. (1997) – The main character shows strategies
for making reasonable estimates by grouping things into arrays
(length and width) and by their volume (length, width, and
height). (preschool-3)
Brown Rabbit's Shape Book. Baker, A. (1999) – Brown Rabbit's
ShapeBook introduces children to basic concepts about 2-
dimensional shapes. (baby-preschool)
The Button Box. Reid, M. (1995) – Grandma's button box contains
tantalizing treasures and amazing activities. (baby-preschool)
A Caribbean Counting Book. Charles, F., & Arenson, R. (1996) – A
Caribbean Counting Book contains counting rhymes from the
Caribbean. (preschool-3)
A Chair for My Mother. Williams, V. (1994) – A girl, her mother,
and her grandmother save their coins in a large jar to buy a new
chair after a fire destroys their home and furniture.(money)
(preschool-3)
A Cloak for the Dreamer. Friedman, A. (1994) – A tailor and his
sons sew together pieces of cloth to create cloaks. The geometric
designs can be used to begin a variety of mathematical
investigations. (preschool-3)
Counting Crocodiles. Sierra, J. (2001) – A resourceful monkey
counts crocodiles and in the process is able to walk on the
crocodiles' backs to get the bananas he wants on an island across
the sea. (baby-preschool)
Counting on Frank. Clement, R. (1991) – The main character
counts, estimates, compares, and measures, often using his dog
Frank as a "base unit." Activities are given in the back of the book.
It will amuse older children. (preschool-3)
Divide and Ride. Murphy, S. J. (1997) – Divide and Ride explores
division with remainders. (preschool-3)
Domino Addition. Long, L. (1996) – The ways numbers are
grouped for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are
explored by showing fact family combinations that add to get
numbers from 1 to 12. (preschool-3)
Dominoes Around the World. Lankford, M. D. (1998) – This is a
collection of challenging domino games and puzzles from around
the world. Math skills and problem solving strategies are applied
during games. (preschool-3)
The Doorbell Rang. Hutchins, P. (1986) – The Doorbell Rang
engages children in the common problem of fair sharing which is a
foundational concept for learning division. It uses real world
problems. (preschool-3)
Each Orange Had 8 Slices. Giganti, P. (1992) – Each Orange Had 8
Slices shows objects in groups of groups and reinforces the concept
of multiplication as repeated addition. ((baby-preschool)
Elevator Magic. Murphy, S. J. (1997) – Elevator Magic explains the
concept of subtraction. Ben subtracts his way down the elevator
making some unusual stops along the way. (preschool-3)
The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery. Base, G. (1989) – Visual
clues and hidden messages spur critical thinking and problem-
solving skills as students solve this "who-done-it." (preschool-3)
Emily's First 100 Days of School. Wells, R. (2000) – Emily's First
100 Days of School counts with Emily from 1 to 100 (example: 52
cards in a deck for the number 52). (preschool-3)
A Fair Bear Share. Murphy, S. J. (1998) – Four bear cubs gather
berries, seeds, and nuts for Mama Bear's Blue Ribbon Blueberry
Pie. They count the objects by placing them into groups of tens and
ones. (Regrouping) (preschool-3)
Feast for 10. Falwell, C. (1993) – Feast for 10 explores the numbers
from 1 to 10. (preschool-3)
Fraction Action. Leedy, L. (1994) – The author show various
representations of common fractions, both region and set models,
fair sharing, fractions and money, and pictorial ways to represent
fractions using models. (preschool-3)
Fraction Fun. Adler, D. (1996) – The author introduces fractions
through bright cartoons that incorporate pizza pie and coins.
(preschool-3)
From One to One Hundred. Sloat, T. (1995) – From One to One
Hundred counts 1 to 10, then by 10's to 100 with beautiful
illustrations. (baby-preschool)
G is for Googol. Schwartz, D. (1998) – A math alphabet book that
is filled with interesting mathematics vocabulary. The definitions
are student-friendly with diagrams and illustrations. (4-12)
Galimoto. Williams, K. L. (1990) – Khondi is determined to make a
galimoto–a toy vehicle made of wires. All day Kondi goes about
the village gathering up the wire he needs. (preschool-3)
Gator Pie. Mathews, L. (1995) – Two alligators find a delicious pie
near the swamp and plan to share the pie equally in two halves,
but other alligators come along and want, pie presenting
problems. (Fractions) (baby-12)
Get Up and Go! Murphy, S. J. 1996) – The book explains the
concepts of time lines and addition as a girl gets ready for school
with the help of her dog who builds time lines to keep track of
passing time. (preschool-3)
Give Me Half. Murphy, S. J. (1996) – Books such as Give Me Half
help children to understand beginning concepts of "half." (1-3)
The Grapes of Math: Mind Stretching Math Riddles. Tang, G.
(2001) – In The Grapes of Math children are encouraged to use
grouping relationships to make counting more efficient. (4-7)
Grandfather Tang's Story: A Tale Told with Tangrams. Tompert,
A. (1990) – Grandfather Tang's Story explores geometric shapes
and patterns and represents geometry found in another culture.
(baby-preschool)
The Great Divide. Dodds, D. A. (1999) – The ways numbers are
grouped for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are
explored as 80 participants in a race divide themselves repeatedly
until one finishes the race. (1-4)
The Greedy Triangle. Burns, M. (1994) – In The Greedy Triangle
children learn correct mathematical terminology for identifying
polygons by the number of sides. (exploring geometry) (1-3)
The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Fractions Book. Pallotta, J. (1999) –
This book uses a Hershey bar to explore parts of a whole,
equivalent fractions, addition and subtraction of fractions, lowest
terms, and improper fractions. (preschool-3)
The History of Counting. Schmandt-Besserat, D. (1999) – In this
historically accurate and beautifully illustrated book, children can
investigate numerals and number words used in counting and
calculating in base-10. (3-5)
How Big Is a Foot? Myller, R. (1991) – This appealing story about
a king helps students grasp basic concepts of measurement and see
how units of measure relate to the real world. (K-3)
How Many, How Many, How Many. Walton, R. (1993) – This
book deals with counting from 1 to 12. (preschool-1)
How Much Is a Million? Schwartz, D. (1993) – How Much Is a
Million? explores very large numbers such as a million, a billion,
and a trillion. (4-6)
How Tall, How Short, How Faraway. Adler, D. (1999) – This book
provides a historical perspective on measurement: Egyptian,
Roman, English, and metric with illustrations of different
measures. (2-4)
How the Second Grade Got $8,205.50 to visit the Statue of
Liberty. Zimelman, N. (1992) – This book is an example of an
interesting problem situation. (an understanding of money)
(preschool-3)
The I Hate Mathematics Book. Burns, M. (1975) – This book
shows that there is more to mathematics than just arithmetic. It
uses games and tricks to show readers how to be a mathematical
heavyweight. (4-7)
The Icky Bug Counting Book. Pallotta, J. (1992) – This counting
book counts bugs from 0 to 26 (one bug for each letter of the
alphabet) and provides information about an interesting variety of
bugs. (baby-preschool)
If You Made a Million. Schwartz, D. (1989) – This book explores
the use of different coins to equal sums of money ranging from $1
to $1,000,000. What could children buy with $1,000,000? (4-6)
Inch by Inch. Lionni, L. (1995) – A clever inchworm avoids being
eaten by demonstrating how useful he is as a measurement tool.
(An investigation of measurement) (preschool-3)
Inchworm and a Half. Pinczes, E. (2001) – A puzzled inchworm
and her friends are on a quest through the vegetable garden,
learning about fractions and measurement. (1-3)
Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? Wells, R. E. (1993) –
This book illustrates the concept of size by comparing such large
things as a blue whale, a mountain, a star, and the universe. (2-3)
Jim and the Beanstalk. Briggs, R. (1997) – Here's a twist on a
familiar tale that will elicit laughter and learning about
measurement and proportion. (preschool-3)
The King's Chessboard. Birch, D. (1993) – This book demonstrates
the number pattern of exponential growth. A wise old man
requests grains of rice according to the number of squares on a
king's chessboard. (preschool-3)
The King's Commissioners. Friedman, A. (1994) – Children are
shown several ways of skip counting (by 2's, 5's, and 10's), a
foundational skill for learning multiplication, division, and place
value. (preschool-3)
Knots on a Counting Rope. Martin, B., & Archambault, J. (1987) –
A boy learns about his family history through time, counting,
measurement, logic, and estimation activities. (baby-preschool)
Let's Fly a Kite. Murphy, S. J. (2000) – In Let's Fly a Kite, two
siblings, Hannah and Bob, learn about symmetry when their
babysitter helps them build and fly a kite. (preschool-3)
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth. Lasky, K. (1994) – The
Librarian Who Measured the Earth is the story of Eratosthenes and
his quest to find a way to measure the circumference of the earth.
(preschool-3)
Little Rabbit's First Number Book. Baker, A. (1998) – This book
counts from 1 to 20. (baby-preschool)
Math Curse. Scieszka, J., & Smith, L. (1995) – Many of us take the
mathematics in the world around us for granted. The main
character thinks of everything in life as a math problem.
(preschool-3)
Mathematics. Adler, I. (1990) – Mathematics teaches children
about angles, square numbers, Fibonacci numbers, the golden
ratio, prime numbers, triangles, polygons, and square roots. (4-7)
The M & M's Counting Book. McGrath, B. B. (1994) – This book
teaches numbers 1-12, colors, shapes, sets of 12, and even a "tasty"
subtraction lesson! (preschool-3)
Math in the Bath (and other fun places, too!). Atherly, S. (1995) –
Math in the Bath (and other fun places too), for younger children,
shows students how mathematics is a part of their everyday
experiences. (1-4)
Midnight Math. Ledwon, P., & Mets, M. (2000) – This is a
collection of 12 brief mathematics games for young children. They
practice basic skills such as sorting, addition, subtraction, and
multiplication. (preschool-3)
A Million Fish...More or Less. McKissack, P. (1992) – This book
teaches basic addition. Miss Prime and her class make up work
problems, add large numbers, and check their work. (4-6)
Mission Addition. Leedy, L. (1997) – The book explores
computational procedures for addition. (preschool-3)
Moja Means One: Swahili Counting Book. Feelings, M. (1996) –
The counting numbers from 1 to 10 in Swahili are introduced.
Beautiful drawings present information about East African culture.
(preschool-3)
Mouse Count. Walsh, E. S. (1991) – Opportunities to count
forwards and backwards are provided in this appealing story,
which introduces the benefits of cooperative problem solving.
(baby-preschool)
One Hundred Hungry Ants. Pinczes, E. (1999) – This book
explores various ways of grouping 100 ants who are on their way
to a picnic and lets children connect a word problem with
appropriate calculations. (preschool-3)
1 Hunter. Hutchins, P. (1996) – Children have fun counting the
animals the hunter does not see in this math tale. (preschool-3)
1, 2, 3 to the Zoo. Carle, E. (1996) – 1,2,3 To the Zoo explores the
numbers from 1 to 10. (baby-preschool)
Only One. Harshman, M. (1993) – A county fair presents many
entertaining opportunities for counting the parts of a whole.
(preschool-1)
Pepper's Journal: A Kitten's First Year. Murphy, S. J. (2000) –
Children learn calendar concepts as Lisa writes in her journal
about her new kitten, Pepper. (K-2)
Planet Monster. Maisner, H. (1996) – Children work through a
number puzzle adventure in a self-directed book. Basic skills used
include classifying, sorting, counting, telling time, and
discriminating shapes. (1-3)
Reese's Pieces Count by Fives. Pallotta, J. (2000) – This book uses
candy to count by 5's to 100. (preschool-3)
A Remainder of One. Pinczes, E. (1995) – A squadron of 25 bugs
tries unsuccessfully to divide evenly for a parade. After several
attempts, the squadron finds that 5 rows of 5 is the solution to the
dilemma. (preschool-3)
Roman Numerals I to MM. Geisert, A. (1996) – A pig farm serves
as an "abacus." Readers determine the values of the Roman
symbols I, V, X, L, D and M by counting the number of piglets in
each picture. (K-3)
Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt. Ernst, L. C. (1992) –
Illustrated with border designs based on well-known quilt
patterns, this spirited tale is ideal for introducing patterns and
symmetry. (K-6)
17 Kings and 42 Elephants. Mahy, M. (1987) – Seventeen kings
and 42 elephants set out on a journey on a rainy night. Children
can count all of the different animals as they make their way
through the jungle. (preschool-3)
The Shape of Things. Dodds, D. A. (1994) – The Shape of Things
introduces young children to common shapes and shows where
they can be seen in the world around them. (K-3)
Shapes, Shapes, Shapes. Hoban, T. (1996) – Shapes, Shapes,
Shapes introduces children to basic concepts about 2-dimensional
shapes. (K-3)
Shota and the Star Quilt. Bateson-Hill, M. (1998) – Shota and the
Star Quilt explores geometric shapes and patterns, and represents
geometry found in a different culture. (preschool-3)
Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi. Neuschwander, C. (1999) –
Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi reveals how the diameter
and circumference measures of circles arrive at pi. (4-7)
Sir Cumference and the First Round Table. Neuschwander, C.
(2002) – This book introduces students to the vocabulary of circle
measurement (circumference, diameter, and radius). (preschool-3)
Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland.
Neuschwander, C. (2001) – With only a circular medallion, a
mysterious poem, and his own wits; Radius must find and rescue a
missing king. (4-7)
Spaghetti and Meatballs for All. Burns, M. (1997) – Mrs. Comfort
is planning a family reunion and designs a seating chart with
square tables based on the ideas of perimeter and area. (5-6)
Spots: Counting Creatures from Sky to Sea. Lesser, C. (1999) –
Spots: Counting Creatures from Sky to Sea counts from 1 to 10
using animals that live in different biomes. (preschool-3)
Spunky Monkeys on Parade. Murphy, S. J. (1999) – In Spunky
Monkeys on Parade, monkeys pass in groups of two, three, and
four. Readers can count them as the parade goes by. (preschool-3)
The Story of Clocks and Calendars: Marking a Millennium.
Maestro, B. (1999) – Marking a Millennium shows the evolution of
time measurement exploring a variety of clocks and calendars. (2-
5)
Subtraction Action. Leedy, L. (2000) – This book explores
computational procedures for subtraction. (K-2)
The Sultan's Snakes. Turpin, L. (1990) – The Sultan's Snakes
explores geometric shapes and patterns, and represents geometry
found in a different culture. (preschool-6)
Super Sand Castle Saturday. Murphy, S. J. (1999) – Three friends
learn about measurement when they compete in a sand castle
contest to build the tallest tower, the deepest moat, and the longest
wall. (1-3)
Tea for Ten. Anderson, L. (2000) – Tea for Ten explores the
numbers from 1 to 10. (baby-preschool)
Telling Time. Older, J. (2000) – Telling Time teaches children
about minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, decades and how to tell
time.
Ten Black Dots. Crews, D. (1968/1986) – This unique counting
books uses simple rhymes and everyday objects to demonstrate
what you can do with one, two, or ten black dots. (K-2)
Ten, Nine, Eight. Bang, M. (1983) – Ten, Nine, Eight provides a
model for creating and illustrating simple counting books. (baby-
preschool)
The Three Bears. Barton, Byron. (1991) – In a version of the
traditional story, children can engage in activities to develop the
concept of the number 3 as well as comparisons of small, medium,
and large. (baby-preschool)
A Three Hat Day. Geringer, L. (1987) – A man dreams about his
future wife and finds his true love in a hat shop. (K-3)
Too Many Kangaroo Things to Do! Murphy, S. J. (1996) – Too
Many Kangaroo Things to Do examines grouping relationships
using 10, 20, 30, 40, and 100. (preschool-3)
Triangles: Shapes in Math, Science and Nature. Ross, C. S. (1994)
– For older children, this book explores features of triangles such
as angles, triangular numbers, triangular prisms, tetrahedrons, and
pyramids. (4-7)
Twelve Snails to One Lizard. Hightower, S. (1997) – Bubba the
Bullfrog uses nonstandard units (like snails and lizards) to help
Milo Beaver build a dam–shows the importance of using standard
units of measure. (K-3)
12 Ways to Get to 11. Merriam, E. (1996) – Students discover
strategies for counting and numeration with child-friendly
collections of objects–such as 6 peanuts and 5 pieces of popcorn–
that add up to 11. (baby-preschool)
Two Ways to Count to Ten. Dee, R. (1988) – This Liberian folktale,
counts things in groups. (K-3)
Uno, Dos, Tres; One, Two, Three. Mora, P. (1996) – Uno, Dos,
Tres: One, Two, Three counts from 1 to 10 in English and Spanish,
with drawings set in Mexican culture. (preschool-2)
Up to Ten and Down Again. Ernst, L. C. (1986) – Up to Ten and
Down Again (beautiful illustrations) explores the numbers from 1
to 10. (preschool-K)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Carle, E. (1969) – A hungry little
caterpillar eats his way through a large quantity of food until, full
at last, he forms a cocoon and goes to sleep. (preschool-3)
What's Smaller than a Pygmy Shrew? Wells, R. E. (1995) – This
book is a thought-provoking journey from the mighty small
pygmy shrew to microorganisms and molecules. (4-6)