Math Appeal: Mind-Stretching Math Riddles

by Greg Tang, Harry Briggs (Illustrator)

Rhyming anecdotes present opportunities for simple math activities and hints for solving.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Poetry, Childrens, Education, Stem

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

شعرهای کوتاه و جذاب همراه با تم ریاضی و نقاشی های واقعا زیبا برای کودکان که میتونه تاثیر بزرگی روشون بزاره که از کودکی به ریاضیات علاقه مند بشن و بعدا دچار مشکل نشن. داستانها جذاب، جالب و کوتاهن و با حل هر کدوم از پازل ها، داستان سریع تر جلو میره.کتاب هایی به سادگی همین کتاب میتونن تاثیرات زیادی بزارن.

[Liz Weimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry
Middle Grades (4-6)

Who knew poetry could be so math-y! This book is a collection of some awesome helpful tips for math, as well as plenty of math problems and riddles for students to work out as they read or listen! Not only is this book full of various different math topics, but it also keeps students engaged and learning while having fun! Difficulty is varied and there's something for everyone!

[Chelsea Ulrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a book to use to allow children to test their invented strategies when working in math. Because their are no prescribed ways to work on the math problems in the book, it would be fun to allow students a chance to work through problems in pairs or on their own and then share with the class what they have learned. I could see using this book with different grade levels as you can watch those students who are learning to count and add and also allow students to multiply and test out different methods to find the answers to the problems in the book.

[Roseanna Crissman Laws · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose to rate this book because I am a math teacher and use it in my 4th grade classroom. I use it for a cross-curricular approach in my math class. In this book there are 16 different poems. The poems are short in length, rhyme and are riddles. These poems are great exposure for poetry and comprehension. I use this book for my "Poem of the Week" as a early finisher. Yes, I have a poem of the week in math class! It last 16 weeks! I have it displayed at a table and when kids finish early they can read the poem and write their answer on a sticky note and place it in the jar. At the end of they week I read all of the answers out of the jar aloud in whole group time and we have a discussion about the incorrect answers and how might that student have gotten that answer. Finally, we discuss the correct answer. On Monday's, I display a new poem. With new social distancing rules, only one student at a time is allowed to go to the table and read the poem. The illustrations go along with the poem, that helps every reader but especially ELL students. Overall, the math is pretty easy but the author throws in some tricky sayings time to time to make the reader think about how they need to solve the problem. That is what I like about this book the most. It makes students think about how to solve a problem and makes them reread until they comprehend it! I think this book would be appropriate for second, third or fourth grade classrooms. This books genre could be poetry or nonfiction. I enjoy using this book because I can see students tackle comprehension, poetry and math all-in-one!

[Christopher Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fiction
Middle Grades (4-6)
These are interesting math riddles that would be great to have students try to look at math problems from another perspective. There is a whole series of them, and when I looked online, there is also now a website. Highly recommend for the classroom as a brain break or brain teasers for filling extra time.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snappy rhymes and fun pictures that challenge readers to think of different ways to count items in the picture.

Not a counting book for kids who are learning to count, but one for kids who can already add and subtract.

[Stephanie Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Identical concept to "Math For All Seasons", but I like the seasons version a little better, just because that's one more thing you can teach out of this book.

[Indie Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great math story problems book. It is engaging and enjoyable for students to do math problems in a low risk environment: a story.

[Sarah Hannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Reaction - I loved reading this book because it was very colorful and it was a book about one of my favorite topics, math! I really thought the illustrations were well done and helped tell the riddles of the book.

Purpose/Use in the classroom

Read-aloud for curricular connection:
-Math unit on problem solving
-Poetry unit as well
-Gives students an opportunity to think and discover ways to solve problems in a method that works for them.

Independent Reading:
-Ages 7-10 students interested in math
-students learning/reading poetry about math if they interests them.

For nonfiction:
-The language and illustrations are strong tools in making math meaningful to children.
-Words and images can communicate analytical reasoning and insight to connect math to nature, science, art, and things that matter to kids.
-Answers are in the back of the book that provide explanations for full understanding by the reader.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

My 5 yr old son absolutely loved Greg Tang's The Best of Times, so I in turned loved it too. I checked out all his books from the library I could get my hands on and unfortunately they don't all live up to my expectations based on the other book. These riddles are confusing! My husband (he's an engineer, so pretty solid in math) and I had trouble figuring out ourselves, so reading them with our son was frustrating. Both Grapes of Math and Math Appeal were equally disappointing, although this one was the hardest for us to explain and figure out. Just hoping the others are more like Best of Times, because for a math loving son, we were both excited about that one! Maybe it will be fun in a few years...

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Reaction: This book is so colorful! I really like engaging illustrations like this and how they present math in a fun way through rhymes and pictures.

Purposes: This would be a great read aloud in the classroom for 1st-3rd grade. This could be pulled out in the classroom during a math lesson to get the kids engaged in literature and also to show them that math can be done in a variety of ways and is all around them in their lives. The text is fairly easy so 2nd-4th graders would enjoy this as an independent read and try to figure out the math problems on their own, with a group of students in the classroom, or turn in the answers to the problems in the book to their teacher. The description provided in the text is a great nonfiction convention that relates to the illustrations.

[Molly Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book includes a plethera of different math concepts. There is a different riddle on each page with a new setting and characters for each riddle. The math riddles all have a title with rhyming throughout. There is an illustration with each riddle, and in the text, it asks the reader either to make pairs, add, or subtract different objects dealing with the setting and characters. This is a great integration activity to introduce poetry/rhyming along with getting practice with adding and subtracting, recognizing shapes, and making pairs.

[Gabriela Cano · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was shown to me by my math lab teacher this year, and she personally enjoys this book for it's fun way of explaining math. I have to agree with her, children would love to read this book, and they might not know they are learning to add, subtract, etc. I would use this as a individual read for children to find and read on their own once we pass through a lesson on math maybe. This book is suitable for first or second graders. There was not much diversity in this book but the language was very simple and easy to understand.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We recently found the book Grapes Of Math by same author and illustrator team. Our girls liked it a lot, especially our oldest. Then we saw this book at our local library and couldn't wait to read it. It was very similar in format and content to the other story, but we still enjoyed reading and figuring out each puzzle together.

[Kayo C · Rating 5 out of 5]

The riddles and illustrations in this book are especially cute. I could see them being used as a morning warm up activity that could be placed on the board or as some type of extra work that a child could do if they finish early to push their thinking. The problems in this book are all addition or subtraction related and do not go beyond double digit answer so I could see it being appropriate at the lower elementary level.

[Nadine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book for teaching math. It's a book of short (6 and 8 lines) nursery rhymes and riddles. Within each riddle is a math activity. So for a student who has challenges with math, this is a fun way to make it easier for them. I would use this book because it is just a fun and creative way to get a child to do math by solving the riddles. They won't even realize they are learning because this book is so much fun. At the back of book, it gives all the answers. Love it!

[Emily Petering · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun book with riddles all about math. The author uses rhyming words throughout the entire book which children would love. The illustrations are bright, simple, and fun. They would most definitely catch the children's eyes.

I would use this book in my classroom in multiple ways. Obviously, it's a great way to practice math facts and concepts. It would also be a great way to practice rhyming words and poetry.

[Tawny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Math Appeal is a great book directed toward young math learners. Through the pictures the student counts the different objects. The counting also fits a cute rhyme to go along. I could see myself using this book in a future classroom maybe on the one-on-one level. If a student is struggling maybe this book would be the boost to get them counting more.

[Janet Squires]

Playful puns and brilliantly colored double page spreads offer readers the challenge of finding strategies such as identifying the pattern in a group of objects in order to count them. Here is an engaging lesson in problem solving that could be used individually or in a classroom. Teacher notes are included at the end of the book.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the classroom I am a big believer in children sharing their thinking when it comes to solving math problems. I think it is invaluable for children to see there is more than one way to solve a problem. For this reason I love Greg Tang's books.

[Amberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cool book. This would be great for the classroom to help students find different ways to deal with story problems. Each problem is presented as a riddle. At the end of the book solutions are shown.

[Katie Williams]

I thought this was a really cute book. It's written as a rhyme and riddle that students can work to figure out. Includes many different problem solving situations including geometry, addtion, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

[Alexandria K · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite poems are "When newton sat beneath this tree,he didn't know of gravity. Then an apple shiny red, tumbled down and hit his head." and "A hive is what a bee calls home. It's also called a honeycomb. The bees store honey, sticky sweet, in lots of little cells so neat."

[Amanda Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could see using this book with different grade levels. You can watch those students who are learning to count and add and also allow higher grade level students to test out different learned methods or even their own methods to find the answers to the problems in the book.

[Melinda Garman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appropriate for first grade and up this book is filled with great math games on each page. The anwsers are on the back. Help your students learn knowledge of numbers, shapes, patters, counting, grouping by 10' and 5's, addition, subtraction, and fractions.

[Maxwoodliff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent book to do simple math problems with my students. I would use this book to make sure they are paying attention to all of the important facts of the riddles. There are so many additional questions I could build on for my class.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greg Tang's work is brilliant. His math concept books would be excellent for use in a professional development setting, as well as in any classroom, K-12. The way we conceptualize numbers in our head is critical to deeper math understanding, and this book provides an entry point.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun way to practice math.

[Julie Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rhyming, illustrated story problems

[SARAH · Rating 3 out of 5]

the girls enjoyed it, but it was a bit long and had math above their level