by Jennifer Hunsicker
Young kids love color, stories, and learning. What better beginning format for teaching math concepts than picture books?
Most picture books are recommended for ages 4-8, but never forget that children enjoy being read to up until around 6th or 7th grade. Math Curse by Jon Scieszka is a good example of a title to span age and grade levels. Well remembered is Mrs. Fibonacci’s famous line, “YOU KNOW, you can think of almost everything as a math problem.”
A few authors to look out for when selecting math titles for your little ones are Mitsumasa and Masaichiro Anno, Marilyn Burns, Eric Carle, and Tana Hoban. They all have multiple titles to select from on your next search.
I wanted to share a few classic titles with you that have stood the test of time. The following is by no means a comprehensive list. It is merely a starting point.
Anno, Mitsumasa. Anno’s Counting Book.
Anno, Masaichiro. Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar.
Carle, Eric. The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Crews, Donald. Ten Black Dots.
Polacco, Patricia. Thunder Cake.
Emberly, Ed. The Wing on a Flea.
Hoban, Tana. Look Again.
Hoban, Tana. Shapes, Shapes, Shapes.
Lionni, Leo. Inch by Inch.
Lansky, Kathryn. The Librarian Who Measured the Earth.
Schwartz, David. How Much is a Million?
Viorst, Judith. Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday.
Wood, Audrey and Don. The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear.
Have fun reading!
Jennifer Hunsicker is a librarian, manager, and MFA student who enjoys researching and writing. She specializes in writing for kids, but sometimes she writes for adults, too. You can read more from Jennifer at her blog or reach her direct at jhunsickerwrites (at) yahoo (dot) com.
If you are an author and would like to write about your books for children - be they fiction or non-fiction - on the K5 Learning Blog, please contact asa (at) k5learning (dot) com.
