The Great Number Rumble: A Story of Math in Surprising Places - Hardcover

Lee, Cora; O'Reilly, Gillian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1554518504 ISBN 13: 9781554518500

Publisher: Annick Press, 2016

Synopsis

Math can show up in the most unlikely places! When the schools in Jeremy’s town ban math, all the kids cheer, all except his friend Sam, a self-proclaimed mathnik, who sets out to prove that math is not only important, but fun. Running parallel to the fictional narrative are informative sidebars that discuss the weird, puzzling, and amusing aspects of mathematics. Some topics covered are math in nature, art, music, magic and tricks, crime solving, and sports.

Artist Lil Crump brings the pages to life with her lively cartoons, while photographs illustrate key concepts. The dynamic layout invites even math-phobic readers to dive in.

Written for 9-12 year olds, this book uses photographs, illustrations, sidebars, biographies of mathematicians, and DIY activities to highlight the surprising ways math is integral to our lives.

About this title

About the Authors

Cora Lee is a scientific writer for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and also coordinates the Vancouver chapter of the Canadian Association for Girls in Science. She lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Gillian O'Reilly is a writer and editor from Toronto, ON, Canada.

Artist Lil Crump brings the pages to life with her lively cartoons, while photographs illustrate key concepts. The dynamic layout invites even math-phobic readers to dive in. She lives in Canada.

Reviews

Gr 3–6—So, you take a couple of middle school boys who are dissimilar (one loves math, one doesn't) but have enough in common to form a firm friendship, and you pop in a director of education who decides to remove math from the curriculum, and you get a humorous take on the importance of math. This is a fun romp with lots of unexpected bits about geometry, consonance in music, geographic profiling, virtual reality, and a whole lot of other neat stuff, carefully packaged to entice readers. Interspersed are boxes where "Jeremy wrestles with weird stuff," like logarithmic spirals, Fibonacci numbers, and Pascal's triangle. Also included are full-page bios of a selection of mathematicians and some nifty projects, such as creating a Mobius strip, handcuffs, and an Escher-like print. This is not a book most kids will seek out by themselves—even if it is funny, informative, and puzzling—but put it in the hands of an innovative math teacher and watch out! VERDICT Just the cure for standardized tests. Use in math lessons to get kids energized.—Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

Edition details

• Publisher: Annick Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1554518504
• ISBN 13: 9781554518500
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Crump Lil
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 104