Extra+Math+Reading

1. Burton, L., & Scieszka, J. (2001). //Math cure//. Lincoln, NE: GPN Educational Media.

The book tells the story of a student who is cursed by the way mathematics works in everyday life.

2. Ellis, J., & Peacock, P. H. (2004). //What's your angle, Pythagoras?: a math adventure//. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

In ancient Greece, young Pythagoras discovers a special number pattern and uses it to solve problems involving right triangles.

3. Isdell, W., & Espeland, P. (1993). //A gebra named Al: a novel//. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Pub..

Julie hates algebra, until she meets a gebra named Al. Julie, Al, and the Periodic horses journey through the Land of Mathematics, where the Orders of Operations are real places and fruits that look like Bohr models grow on chemistries.

4. Murphy, S. J., & Tusa, T. (1998). //Lemonade for sale//. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Four kids and their sidekick, Petey the parrot, run a sometimes thriving lemonade stand whose patrons include all kinds of wacky neighbors, even a juggler. They create a bar graph to track the rise and fall of their lemonade sales.

5. Neuschwander, C., & Geehan, W. (1997). //Sir Cumference and the first round table: a math adventure//. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

Assisted by his knight, Sir Cumference, and using ideas offered by his wife and son, King Arthur finds the perfect shape for his table.

6. Pinczes, E., & Mackain, B. (2000). //One hundred hungry ants//. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin.

One hundred very hungry ants hurry to sample the delights of a picnic, but marching in single file seems too slow for 100 empty tummies. The smallest ant of all suggests they travel in 2 rows of 50, four rows of 25. . . and the division begins.

7. Pinczes, E. J., & MacKain, B. (1995). //A remainder of one//. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Poor Joe wants to march in the parade, but every time the lines are uneven, he must stand aside. What's a poor bug to do? Joe is determined. He studies the problem, relining the twenty-five bugs in his squadron from two lines to three lines to four lines, until inspiration and fortitude result in five lines of five -- and Joe fits in the last.

8. Schogt, P. (2000). //The wild numbers//. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows.

Isaac Swift is a mathematician, not an outstanding one, but a competent, unextraordinary pencil-pusher. He is constantly reminded that it is the prodigies of his profession who advance human knowledge. The rest just try to understand. Now Isaac thinks he found the solution to "Beauregard's Wild Number Problem," a puzzle that has stumped savants for centuries. And Dimitri, his mentor at the university, once a near-great mathematician himself, thinks Isaac is correct. If so, Isaac will have elevated himself to the ranks of the immortals. But now accusations of plagiarism arise, and the threat of violence that may not stop at the intellectual level looms over the university.

9. Stewart, I. (2011). //Mathematics of life//. New York: Basic Books.

In //The Mathematics of Life//, Ian Stewart provides a fascinating overview of the vital but little-recognized role mathematics has played in pulling back the curtain on the hidden complexities of the natural world--and how its contribution will be even more vital in the years ahead.

10. Tang, G., & Briggs, H. (2001). //The grapes of math: mind stretching math riddles//. New York: Scholastic.

This innovative and delightful book challenges children to open their minds and solve problems in new and unexpected ways. By looking for patterns, symmetries, and familiar number combinations displayed within eye-catching pictures, math will become easier and quicker than anyone could have ever imagined!