Customer Reviews

Mathematickles!

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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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".

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.

Mathematickles tickled me! I love this book! Betsy Franco has artfully woven math and poetry together to take kids across the seasons in a thought-provoking way. These simple poems with complex ideas stretch the brain and create models for children to write their own poems. This book will appeal to kids of all ages and to teachers who love to get their students to think.

This book makes no sense whatsoever. It can't be for children. But it can't be for adults either.

The book is billed as "fun poems to tickle your funny bone" and "words + math + seasons = Mathematickles".

Where are the poems? If each five word construction splattered with math symbols is a poem, then so is my grocery shopping list.

Where is the math? Math involves logic. I admit I'm not Mensa material, but I'm completely stumped to find more than the most tenuous and free-associative connections in the misnamed MATHEMATICkles.

Where are the tickles?

I purchased this book along with The Grapes Of Math by Gregory Tang and Harry Briggs. This is a good book! The kids like it. The problems are amusing, even bordering on tickling. My only problem with this book is that an overview of methods for solving the problems should be at the beginning. But so what? There are a few ways to look at the problems and the kids actually sit down to do them without being pestered.

Especially viewed next to an amusing and useful book of the same genre, neither a quality possessed by Mathematickles, the book is paper recycling bin material. That's where our copy is going after I file this review.

Don't buy it.

Illustrations are great, poppingly bright and fun.
But what is it? Who is it for?
It won't hold children's attention, and it can't
hold up in the classroom -- it isn't math, and it
isn't poetry. Certainly not poetry. A few thoughts, words,
and multiplication signs thrown together on the pages
doesn't make it a worthy read. It becomes rather boring
rather quickly with each page.