Mathematickles! [Hardcover]

Betsy Franco (Author), Steven Salerno (Illustrator)

Book Description

crisp air
shadows tall
+ cat's thick coat
signs of fall

Join a girl and her cat on a magical tour of the seasons as they wend their way through colorful, math-filled landscapes and jubilant, fun-filled mathscapes.

Poet Betsy Franco and fine artist Steven Salerno playfully combine the language of poetry and simple mathematical concepts with stunning artwork -- an equation that equals Mathematickles!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-5-Words + math + seasons = an enchanting collection of poems in an unusual format. Salerno's energetic, angled impressions of autumn trees and animals lead into the ice, snow, sledding, and sneezing of winter, followed by the rain, flowers, and new life of spring and the barefoot fun of lazy days and sudden summer storms. Freely painted swirls and angles form bold background designs as a dark-haired child appears on each spread along with Franco's poetic equations: "feet - shoes + grass = barefoot!," "rooftops + first snow = white blanket," and "hexagons x frozen lace = snow flurry." Addition and subtraction of words create descriptive poetry as do graphic depictions of frogs playing leapfrog, a snowball fight, or a bird taking flight. Multiply the uses for this book by adding it to poetry collections and exercises in word problems during math studies.
Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TX
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 2-4, younger for reading aloud. As the jacket states, "words + math + seasons = Mathematickles!" This book offers brief poems using forms suggested by mathematical processes, all within a seasonal framework changing from fall to winter to spring to summer. Some of the cleverest examples are too visual to relate effectively in text alone, but a few equations will give a taste of Franco's offerings: "maple leaves + puddle = crimson ships"; "holes + nuts - nuts = squirrel hide & seek"; and "feet - shoes + grass = barefoot." Two, three, or four of these poems appear on each double-page spread, accompanied by Salerno's jaunty, watercolor-and-gouache artwork. Although some of the spreads seem too busy, others look fresh and energetic. A girl, often accompanied by her cat, brings continuity to the scenes of the countryside going through colorful seasonal changes. Though the inspiration for these poetic bits may be mathematical, they don't always display the logic that is fundamental to math. Ultimately, they will appeal most to lovers of wordplay. Using this colorful book as a springboard, language arts teachers can challenge their students to write their own mathematickles. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry; 1 edition (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689843577
• ISBN-13: 978-0689843570
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very unique and enjoyable math reader, March 4, 2006

By 

Julie Brennan "Living math" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mathematickles! (Hardcover)

Okay, it's not like regular poetry, it's *mathematical* language. This is an unusual book in which the text mixes language with mathematical concepts, symbols and vocabulary to produce some really interesting connections.

Many children have difficulty connecting math with language. Math readers help bring math in this world, rather than it being isolated as a bunch of abstract symbols. The poetic "equations" in this reader are logical, artistic and creative uses of symbols and ideas. All of my kids from ages 5 to 13 love the book.

The author is ambitious - as the book progresses, fractions, graphs and more complex language "equations" emerge, for example, tadpole = 2/3 frog. There are graphs of natural phenomenon, etc. What a delightful book.

The way I read it to my 5 and 7 y/olds was in the form of q&a - I'd read "rocks times waves equals" and they would guess (5 y/old guessed "splashes" which was a great guess, the book's answer is sand). My 9 y/old was just as intrigued by it as my younger kids, and understood the more complex notation that they would not. As such, it is unusual in its wide age range applicability.

This isn't a poetry book, I think that name on the title may be misleading for some, but then, I guess they would have had a hard time know what to call it, it is so unique. It's much like the math diagramming I did with my kids, only it isn't stories, just ideas or vignettes. And if you really like poetry, try Math Talk by Theonni Pappas.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A collection of fun, season and math-oriented poems, July 26, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mathematickles! (Hardcover)

Combining humorous poetry by Betsy Franco with the lively and colorful artwork of Steven Salerno, Mathematickles! is a collection of fun, season and math-oriented poems and equations. Vibrant illustrations enhance the equations of words to make Mathematickles! a quite unique picture book, and especially recommended for those who love math as an art form. Mathematickles! is a wondrously fun as in: "rocks x waves = sand"; "sneeze x 3 - winter sniffles"; "lightningbugs x jar = summer lantern".

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars stave off alzheimers! and entertain kids as well, September 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Mathematickles! (Hardcover)

this book is superfun; one of its plusses (so to speak) is that it mainstreams some experimental ways of playing with and stretching the boundaries of what is considered poetry and what is considered arithmetic, by blending them and making different aspects of the brain work simultaneously. it makes you smarter to really contemplate these, though they may appear simple at first.