Customer Reviews

Math Appeal: Mind-Stretching Math Riddles

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One of my favourite books to read to my students is The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang. And now along with it, is Math Appeal, the sequel. Once again, what I love best about Tang's books is that it provides strategies for students and it shows them that thinking does not need to be linear -- that thinking outside the box shows creativity. Tang shows that there are different methods to an answer and that the thought process is just as important. As a teacher, I'm looking for higher level of thought from my students, for creativity and for them to be able to explain their thinking. Each page in Math Appeal becomes a daily challenge for the students, who in turn eagerly attempt these challenges. We're looking forward to the next book!

Greg Tang gives us one more fantastic book. You will want to share this book with your "thinkers." I use this book with my fifth graders to help foster mental math skills. Tang teaches us how to look at groups of objects in an organized kind of way, and to add the objects quickly and efficiently. My son who is in kindergarten loves to look at the pictures, and challenges himself to add the objects. We have lots of fun!

Like all of Greg Tang's other math books, he takes math problems, sets them to rhyme, and gets your kids solving math problems. He gives a clue in the rhyme to help kids organize their counting patterns, and then the counting begins. The art work in his books is vibrant, bold, and fun. For example, he has children counting chili peppers in red and green hues while the opposite page has a cactus mariachi band playing at sunset. He's got partying peapods and a singing clam to help you count star fish. He also throws in some facts about the items you are counting (example--"with little suction cups for feet..." used for the starfish or "they somehow know to make a V, instead of flying randomly..." for the geese) which add a nice touch to his book. This is a fun way to teach kids about math and groupings without doing rote math facts.

Greg Tang has come up with a terrific concept for getting kids to think mathematically and creatively at the same time. The lit major in me gets excited about the ingeniousness of using verse, which is in itself pattern-dependent, to present word problems that encourage kids to think about math problems in terms of patterns. That part of me also wonders whether math might not have been such a struggle for me had I mastered some of the little tricks that Tang's book helps kids master.

The books works on multiple levels. Kids on the younger end of the age range may use it as a straight counting and basic pattern book. The bright, attractive illustrations on each page will keep them engaged. Kids on the older end of the range will quickly pick up Tang's trick for grouping and rearranging objects to make finding a sum easier. They'll have a chance to use not just addition and subtraction, but also simple multiplication.

The problems in the book represent a substantial range of difficulty. Some patterns will be easy to find, some a bit more challenging. This mom was grateful for the answer key when it came to two particularly difficult puzzles. Highly recommend!

I think this book is a great idea.
This book was recommended to use with 4th graders by an elementary teacher. I bought it for future reading for my second grader and left it lying around to see if it would peak her interest. Before long she was perusing the book and asking insightful questions. This ia a great gateway book for kids advancing in mathematics.

I recommend this entire series of books. Why not make math fun and real to our kids? Greg Tang's books are all excellent!

This is a fun book for math. I teach 4th grade and my students love it. Great pictures!

This is the first experience I have had of the Amazon "Search Inside" marketing ploy. What a pity the publishers (I am assuming that they were the ones who selected the extracts) were so concerned about not divulging the contents of the book, that they completely failed to further my initial interest which was bordering on excitemnt.

Publishers, please make sure that whoever selects the 'Search Inside' extracts of a book you are promoting is knowledgeable enough to attract potential buyers.