Customer Reviews

Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream (Marilyn Burns Brainy Day Books)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of a genre of books wherein the beauty and elegance of a mathematical concept is revealed to the main character in a dream (others notables inlude MATH CURSE by Jon Scieszka and THE NUMBER DEVIL by Hans Magnus Enzensberger). This book is a marvelous way to integrate literature with mathematics and I have found it useful to aid in the introduction of multiplication to students in my 3rd grade.

After I read the reviews for this book, I immediately checked it out of our local library. My son loves anything that has to do with math, and we are always looking for books about the subject. I have to say I was disappointed in the book, and my son was bored with it. It is rare that he is not glued to a math concept book, but this one just did not do it for him. The repetitve verse, "...I am Amanda Bean and I count everything..." started to grate on his nerves to the point he said, "why does she keep saying that?" I am not sure exactly how this introduces children to multiplication because you never actually see Amanda figure out a problem that shows how to compute that type of problem. It would have been nice if the author had shown at least one problem being solved using multiplication so that it tied her "concept" to real world math. Much better books on the subject are Math Curse by Jon Sciezska (I have reviewed that one as well) or books by Greg Teng. My advice is go to your library and get the book before you make the investment in your own copy. I just can't imagine a child wanting to read the story over and over again.

This is an excellent book. It is a wonderful way to introduce multiplication to children. As a 1st year teacher I used this book to introduce a lesson on multiplication with my 3rd grade class. They loved it and it was very interactive. We stopped to talk about and solve the various problems throughout the book. Every teacher needs a copy.

I try to teach my six year old daugher math through children's literature, and this book rates highly in that area. She loves the story and I love how it introduces multiplication in a fun and easy to understand manner. The explanation of a "fast way to count" really clicked with my daugher. She asks me to read this book over and over again.

This book is wonderful for an introducation to multiplication. It gives real life examples of when it would be important to know how to multiply, and it clearly tells what multiplication is.