Love it or hate it, maths is an integral part of school curricula and our lives. From keeping household accounts to tweaking recipes to planning trips and holidays, mathematical skills are vital in helping us successfully navigate our daily lives. Finding books that make maths fun, show how it is relevant to our world and make it accessible to all learners is, therefore, a must. Books that achieve this are game-changers for students and educators alike, bringing the subject to life, making maths “doable” and extending learning by generating more questions. Take a look below to find a selection of books that help to do just that.
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The School of Numbers
by Emily Hawkins (author) & Daniel Frost (illustrator)
Review: Explore mathematics as a cadet in the Starship Infinity Astro Academy! This engaging book broaches mathematical concepts in a fun and exciting way. Written in an accessible, light-hearted style, the main themes of number, shape and measurement and real-world maths are split into 3 terms. Cadets explore individual topics within these themes over the course of forty lessons. Each lesson is accompanied by clear examples and useful little tips. Follow up activities align with the space theme. The cadets are asked to work out how much rocket fuel they will need or to plan a route to Mars, for example. Guided by crew members such as Ava Ridge, Adam Up and Lois Carmen Denominator (!), students are sure to enjoy learning with this fun, yet informative read.
Suggested reading age: 7 – 11 years. In my opinion older students looking to review or reinforce maths concepts would also benefit from the book.
Nonfiction Nuggets Teaching Tip: Students design their own academy based on an area of personal interest. If animals are a passion they could create a Safari Park academy, for example. They could then name all of the workers and as they explore different mathematical concepts create activities linked to their theme. This can be an ongoing project over the school year. Towards the end, students can swap projects and work on the different activities, so revising and practising concepts introduced over the year. Conversely, they could swap activities at the end of each unit of study. Alternatively, the class could agree on one academy and make different activities to practise the concept.
A Quick History of Math
by Clive Gifford (author) & Michael Young (illustrator)
Review: Not only is this book full of mathematical gems, but it also appeals to young (and older!) history and fact lovers. Covering over 40,000 years of maths history, the engaging cartoons and writing will soon have students saying “Did you know….?” Did you know, for example, that the first mathematical object discovered is a notched baboon leg used as a tally stick around 43,000 years ago? Split into bite-sized chapters, topics include “Algebraaaaagh”, “Easy as Pi”, “Fab Fibonacci” and, who can resist the intriguingly titled chapter, “When Math Goes Wrong”. This terrific book makes maths fun and interesting and helps children learn about mathematics without them really trying.
Suggested reading age: 8 – 12. Many of the topics, however, would also appeal and be relevant to older readers.
Nonfiction Nuggets Teaching Tip: Crazy Maths Fact Inquiry: Students see if they can find a fascinating maths fact and story to share. Add these to a class book or maths display and update them on an ongoing basis. Share this with other classes, who also make their own books.
What’s the Point of Math?
by DK
Review: From struggling mathematicians who question how algebra will ever be of any use to them, to those students going through the motions without seeing the point, to those who are interested in how we use maths in our daily lives, this book shows the real-world application of maths in a visually engaging manner. Divided into sections, it explores the point of both tangible and more abstract areas of study ranging from measurement to patterns and sequences, data and statistics, and probability and logic. With “How to” statements, such as “how to impress with a guess”, “how to catch a cheat”,” how to become a trillionaire” and even “how to escape prison”, this beautifully presented DK book goes a long way to answering the question, “What’s the point?” when it comes to maths learning.
Suggested reading age: 9 – 12
Nonfiction Nuggets Teaching Tip: Ask the students to come up with their own “What’s the point?” questions pertaining to their maths studies. They can then investigate and find real-world examples of the particular concept in use. This could take place at the beginning of a unit of study so that students can already see the point of what they will be learning or at different points along the way. Conversely, once they are more knowledgeable about the topic, this could be a great wrapping up activity. On a different note, you could ask speakers to come in and show how they use maths in their jobs, e.g. programmers, pilots, doctors, architects…or they could look at a hero of theirs and see how they use maths. E.g. explorers, athletes, etc.
It’s a Numberful World
by Eddie Woo
Review: A Mathical Honor Book, this highly readable, narrative style book shows how maths is all about patterns and highlights how we can find these patterns everywhere. Eddie Woo, a respected high school teacher, has broken down often challenging topics into easy to understand sections. Bold font and graphics highlight key learnings as the author delves into concepts such as phi (the golden ratio) and e (Euler’s number). Divided into 26 chapters with eye-catching titles such as “Killer Butterflies”, “Mathemagic”, and “How Your Pancreas is Like a Pendulum”, this book takes a deep dive into maths in the real world and will appeal to those who want to look further into mathematics in the world around us.
Suggested reading age: 12-17 years. I personally feel this is more suited to teenagers in the upper end of this age bracket and older readers.
Nonfiction Nuggets Teaching Tip: Musical Maths: Students rewrite the lyrics to “It’s a Wonderful World” to represent “It’s a Numberful World”. They record their version and create a video to accompany it using images linked to the lyrics. For example, if they refer to the golden ratio and Fibonacci numbers in their song, the images chosen could show them in use in nature, art, architecture, etc. These images could come from an internet search or, more engagingly for students, they could photograph examples in their locality or create their own.
Super Simple Math
by DK Smithsonian
Review: Aimed at students from 11 – 16 years of age, this study guide from DK Smithsonian would make a great addition to any secondary student’s tool kit. Each topic is presented over one or two pages featuring clear explanations, examples and key facts. Full of annotated images, this book is accessible to all maths students helping make topics such as scientific notation and proportion equations more approachable. A useful glossary at the back provides concise definitions of terms discussed. Covering curriculum areas including ratio and proportion, trigonometry and statistics as well as practice questions to try out, this is a book that I wish had existed during my school years!
Suggested reading age: 12 – 14 years. In my opinion, this would be a useful reference tool throughout secondary school.
Nonfiction Nuggets Teaching Tip: One Page Wonder: At the end of a unit of study, ask students to create a one-page guide that explains the key points of the topic. This should be done in a style that makes sense and is appealing to the student. If this is repeated on a regular basis, the students will effectively create their own study guide which they can use for reference and revision purposes.
Happy Reading!
Do YOU know of any great maths books to add to this list? Please leave a recommendation below to help further support our community.
Other Maths Related Posts You May Find Useful:
Data Handling and Statistics: Making Sense of Our World
Numbers Ad Infinitum: Exploring the number system.