Annotated Bibliography:

Picture Books Supporting Intermediate Numeracy Programs

January, 2011

NUMBER:

/ Aileen Friedman. The King’s Commissioners.
New York: Scholastic, c1994. ISBN: 0-590-48989-5
While trying to keep track of his many royal commissioners, the king learns some new ways of counting.
/ Bruce Goldstone. Great Estimations.
New York: Square Fish, 2010, c2006. 978-0-312-60887-3 (pbk.)
Photographs and easy-to-follow text teach children about estimations and offer tips to help them create accurate estimates.
/ Bruce Goldstone. Greater Estimations.
New York: H. Holt, c2008. 978-0-8050-8315-6 (hc.)
Presents techniques for making reasonably accurate estimations of high quantities of items or vast ranges of measurement, with creative examples for building the skill of guessing lengths, volumes, and area.
*Development of place value
/ J. Scieszka and Lane Smith. Math Curse.
New York: Viking, 2007, c1995. 978-0-670-06299-7
When the teacher tells her class that they can think of almost everything as a math problem, one student acquires a math anxiety which becomes a real curse.
/ Greg Tang. The Grapes of Math: Mind-Stretching Math Riddles.
New York: Scholastic, 2004, c2001 978-0-439-59840-8 (pbk.)
Illustrated riddles introduce strategies for solving a variety of math problems by using visual clues.
*Use also for developing and practicing addition and subtraction strategies.
/ Greg Tang. Math Potatoes: Mind-Stretching Brain Food.
New York: Scholastic, 2005. 978-0-439-44390-6
Presents a colorful collection of rhymes and riddles that help children ages seven through twelve develop their math and problem-solving skills.
*Use also for developing and practicing addition and subtraction strategies.
/ Scott Gifford. Piece=Part=Portion: Fractions=Decimals=Percents.
Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press, 2008, c2003. 978-1-58246-261-5 (pbk.)
Looks at fractions, decimals, and percents as different ways of describing pieces, parts, and portions in the language of mathematics.
/ Matthew McElligot. The Lion’s Share.
New York: Walker, 2009. 978-0-8027-9768-1 (trade)
Ant is honored to receive an invitation to lion's annual dinner party, but is shocked when the other guests behave rudely and then accuse her of thinking only of herself.
* Development of fraction concepts.
/ Andrew Clements. A Million Dots.
New York: Simon & Schuster, c2006. 978-0-689-85824-6
Illustrations and fun facts demonstrate what one million dots look like.
*Develops sense of immensity of size of number.
/ David Schwart. How Much is a Million?
New York: Lothrop, c1985. 978-0-688-04049-9 (hbk.)
Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician helps children understand the concept of large numbers such as million, billion, and trillion through colorful illustrations of the stars and other things in space.
/ Matthew McElligott. Bean Thirteen.
New York: Putnam’s, c2007. 978-0-399-24535-0 (hc.)
Two bugs, Ralph and Flora, try to divide thirteen beans so that the unlucky thirteenth bean disappears, but they soon discover that the math is not so easy.
*Investigates the concept of prime numbers.
/ Jerry Pallotta. The Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Multiplication Book.
New York: Scholastic, c2002. 0-439-25412-4 (pbk.)
Illustrations, simple text, and Hershey's chocolate bars help children learn the basics of multiplication.

Patterns & Relations:

/ Marilyn Burns. Spaghetti and Meatballs for All.
New York: Scholastic, 2008, c1997. 978-0-590-94459-5 (hbk.)
The seating for a family reunion gets complicated as people rearrange the tables and chairs to seat additional guests.
*Investigates patterns and relations. Can extend looking at single variables.
/ Lily Toy Hong. Two of Everything: a Chinese Folktale.
Morton Grove, Ill.: Whitman, c1993. 978-0-8075-8157-5
A poor old Chinese farmer finds a magic brass pot that doubles or duplicates whatever is placed inside it, but his efforts to make himself wealthy lead to unexpected complications.
*Investigates patterns and relations. Beginning of concepts of function and exponential relationships.

Geometry:

/ Marilyn Burns. The Greedy Triangle.
New York: Scholastic, c1994. 978-0-545-04220-8 (pbk.)
Dissatisfied with its shape, a triangle keeps asking the local shapeshifter to add more lines and angles until it doesn't know which side is up.
*Investigates the attributes of 2-D shapes.
/ Ann Tompert. Grandfather Tang’s Story.
New York: Crown Publishers, 1997, c1990. 978-0-517-88558-1
Grandfather tells a story about shape-changing fox fairies who try to beat each other until a hunter brings danger to both of them.
*Use of tangrams to create images. Relate perimeter to area.

Primary books that could also be considered:

“Actual Size”, Steve Jenkins.

“Life-Size Zoo”, Teruyuki Komiya.

If you Hopped Like a Frog”, David M. Schwartz.

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