Two Books For Math Class

Tyrannosaurus Math

by Michelle Markel

illustrated by Doug Cushman

Tricycle Press, 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

Tyrannosaurus Math is a number-crunching dinosaur who starts doing math the minute he hatches from his egg, counting his fingers and toes together to make a number sentence.

As he grows, his math becomes more advanced. Soon he's skip counting, subtracting and checking his work, and drawing a picture in the sand to solve a problem. He makes a pictograph and an array, and finally saves the day with an excellent use of estimation.

This would be a fun book to share with math learners of all ages AND their math teachers!

Also reviewed by Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect

Michelle Markel's blog, The Cat and the Fiddle

Zero is the Leaves on the Tree

by Betsy Franco

illustrated by Shino Arihara

Tricycle Press, 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

In this beautiful little book, the concept of zero is explored throughout a child's school year. First, zero is the number of "balls in the bin at recess time," then the number of leaves on the oak. In winter, zero is "the sound of snowflakes landing on your mitten." In spring, zero is "the bikes in the bike rack on the last day of school."

This book just begs for students to create their own illustrations of zero...and maybe of the other numbers as well!