Books for Young Children

Here are some of the best math books for young children I have run across. (Also see Number Puzzle Books for Young Children.) Click on the book cover for more information or click on any of the underlined links.

You Can Count on Monsters by Evan Schwartz, 244 pages, 2010, ISBN 978-1-56881-578-7
www.amazon.com/Count-Monsters-Richard-Evan-Schwartz/dp/1568815786
www.akpeters.com/product.asp?ProdCode=5787
www.richardevanschwartz.com/monsters.html

This special “counting” book visually explores the concepts of factoring and the role of prime and composite numbers. The playful and colorful monsters are designed to give children (and even older audiences) an intuitive understanding of the building blocks of numbers and the basics of multiplication. The introduction and appendices are designed to help adult readers answer questions about factoring from their young audience. The artwork is crisp and creative, and the colors are very bright and engaging.

From Princeton Alumni Weekly, blogs.princeton.edu/paw/2010/02/factoring_fun.html:

Intended for elementary-age children, You Can Count on Monsters first explains the basic ideas of multiplication, prime and composite numbers, and factoring. Then for each number, from one through 100, the book’s left-hand pages depict the number broken down into its prime factors using dots and factor trees, and on the facing page, there is a playful monster that relates to the number.

The monsters are designed to help children understand the building blocks of numbers. Each prime number is represented by a different monster. For example, the monster for the prime number 2 has two big eyes. For each composite number, the scene depicted involves the monsters for its prime factors. So the number 14, for instance, involves a scene with the monsters for the prime numbers 2 and 7. Young readers can have fun figuring out how the monster is related to its prime numbers.

Great Estimations by Bruce Goldstone, Holt (grades 1-4)
www.amazon.com/Great-Estimations-Bruce-Goldstone/dp/031260887X/

The following review is from Amazon.com:

This book is fun, engaging and smart. The author does a great job making numbers, even the really big ones, less scary and easier to conceptualize. The photographs are creative and compelling to look at. This book belongs in every elementary school and any home with young children.

Greater Estimations by Bruce Goldstone
www.amazon.com/Greater-Estimations-Bruce-Goldstone/dp/0805083154/

Filled with fun and challenging examples, this companion to Great Estimations will show you how to train your eyes and your mind to make really great estimations (from the book jacket).

Please let us know of other engaging math books for young children.

Nancy Blachman
Email me

Math Delights

Books for Young Children