Read Fiction in Math Class

Stories Get Students Thinking about Math

My second grade teacher, Elsie Deaton, gave everyone a bit of clay to play with after lunch. It kept our fingers busy while she read aloud. I remember her reading the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  One of the books included a math problem which took me years to figure out.  When Mary and Laura would visit a neighbor, they were each given a cookie. In order to save an equal part for Carrie, both girls ate half of their treat. This left two halves for Carrie, which wasn’t fair. Laura and Mary couldn’t figure out a better way. I couldn’t either – in second grade – but the question stayed with me.

Many children’s books contain puzzles that encourage mathematical thinking, which is why it is important to read fiction in math class. Some are written with teaching math in mind. Sometimes, references to math need to be teased apart and unraveled just as you would when teaching about character traits, setting, plot, or resolution. Either way, using fiction in math class is a powerful way to motivate students, start them thinking about mathematical questions, or invite them to connect reading with math.

Extend the reading activity. Invite students to write their own stories that include math questions.

Some of the links below go straight to specific books. Others go to book collections or other lists of books to read in math class.

My Favorites – so far

• Charlesbridge Math Adventures – contains What’s Your Angle Pythagorus?
• Sir Cumference Math Adventures
• One Grain of Rice by Demi; the power of growing patterns
• One Was Johnny by Maurice Sendak or the song by Carol King (2-3 min video)
• Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm; If the queen’s spy hadn’t told her, how many names would she have had to guess before finding Rumplestiltskin? How many shoes did the Twelve Dancing Princesses need for one night? for two nights?

Future Favorites

• Do Sharks Like Ice Cream? by Polly Owen; statistics!!!
• Math and Literature from the Marylin Burns site
• Exploring Math through Literature from the MCTM site  (create a free account to access)
• Social Justice Math books from Social Justice Books
• 58 Amazing Math Books for Young Mathematicians from We Are Teachers
• Amazon’s Best Sellers in Children’s Math Fiction from Amazon
• Counting on Katherine by Helaine Becker
• Biographies of Mathematicians for Kids from Stress Free Math for Kids

For HS (maybe) and Adult Readers

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion;  laugh out loud wife hunting
• Genius by James Gleick;
• Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner; economics? cause and effect?
• Biographies of Mathematicians  from Good Reads