Math Story Books to Help Build Your Child’s Love of Math

Bedtime Math – A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late!

Late night math fun!

Bedtime stories are a routine in kids lives, but this book is a fun way to share bedtime math with your child. Filled with kid-friendly math problems featuring cookie dough, lego and more! Targeted at a variety of ages, questions such as “If an elephant weighs 8,000 pounds, and your car weighs 3,000 pounds, how much more does the elephant weigh?” for little kids, becomes, “A ton is 2,000 pounds. If an elephant weighs 8,000 pounds, how many tons is that?” and then for older kids, “If you have a pet whale that weighs 160 tons, how many 4-ton elephants would you need to math the weight of whale?”.

For Emerging Middle School Mathematicians:

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi

An adventurous Pi primer!

This is a fantasy fairytale story where a boy uses math to save his father. This illustrated book features characters with mathematical names such as Radius, Lady Di of Ameter and of course, Sir Cumference. Woven into the story is a plot line which unravels the meaning of pi. The book is great for children of all ages but is perfect for middle school mathematicians as an introduction to pi.

What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras?

A perfect Pythagorean presentation!

Another illustrated adventure, but this time using carefully drawn illustrations and a historical storyline to explain the proof and use of Pythagoras’ Theorem and right-angled triangles. Simple to understand visuals are combined with an in-depth story with plenty of cheeky dialogue between the main character, a curious boy journeying from Samos to Alexandria with his father, and those they meet on their way.

For Forward-Looking High Schoolers:

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure

A devilishly good spin on number theory! 

A book about the dreams that a 12-year-old boy, Robert, has with the mischievious Number Devil, who uses furry calculators and piles of coconuts to explain the beauty of number theory. For example, the Number Devil uses coconuts to show Robert what triangular numbers are by making triangles on the ground, and he comes up with the first ten triangular numbers: 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, and 55, then comes up with the rule for triangular numbers. Cool number concepts such as Fibonacci series and prime numbers are explained through Roberts interactions with his devilish dream companion.

Math Girls 2: Fermat’s Last Theorem

A teen math romance! 

Mixing Japanese culture, teen romance, and math, Math Girls 2 follows the day to day lives of a cool trio of girls as they explore number theory, algebra, modular arithmetic, and other fascinating mathematical topics, with the finale being a modern proof of Fermat’s last theorem. Starting off with easy to understand math ideas suitable even for middle schoolers, the math level in this book does get quite complex towards the end, but the strength of the story makes this an inspiring read nonetheless.

Storybooks + Math = Bedtime Learning Fun!

Reading bedtime stories to kids is standard in homes around the world, so why not use some of that precious reading time to share and build up a love of math with your child?

Students on the Thinkster Math program earn points for completing worksheets. These points can be redeemed for either an iTunes gift card or an Amazon voucher which you and your child can use to purchase apps, math story books and much more!

Which math story book will you be buying?

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