BEDTIME MATH: A Fun Excuse To Stay Up Late by Laura Overdeck, Jim Paillot (Illustrator), YR, 2013, Hardcover, 86p, Rating=5
Source: provided by Goodman Media/author in exchange for an honest review
Our mission: to make math a fun part of kids’ everyday lives.
We all know it’s wonderful to read bedtime stories to kids, but what about doing math? Many generations of Americans are uncomfortable with math and numbers, and too often we hear the phrase, "I’m just not good at math!" For decades, this attitude has trickled down from parents to their kids, and we now have a culture that finds math dry, intimidating, and just not cool.
Bedtime Math wants to change all that. Inside this book, families will find fun, mischief-making math problems to tackle—math that isn’t just kid-friendly, but actually kid-appealing. With over 100 math riddles on topics from jalapeños and submarines to roller coasters and flamingos, this book bursts with math that looks nothing like school. And with three different levels of challenge (wee ones, little kids, and big kids), there’s something for everyone. We can make numbers fun, and change the world, one Bedtime Math puzzle at a time.
In this new book, Overdeck pairs more than one hundred kid-friendly stories with age-appropriate math problems, providing the groundwork for a new bedtime ritual that will make math fun and accessible for both children and parents.
My Review
This was an instant hit with my children and me. Because what do you know, math really does apply to real life! This book illustrated that fact in a fun way that got my children excited about math. The story topics were fact based and presented in kid entertaining appeal and illustrations. For example, in the "Tipping the Scales" narrative (pg22-23), it compared the biggest animal on land and sea .."African elephant weighs around 8,000 pounds, a blue whale weighs about 160 tons. A ton is 2,000 pounds, so that's over 300,000 pounds... Not that the difference matters much: If you had both animals as pets, you wouldn't want either one to sit on you" and you'll find a picture of an elephant sitting on a pickup truck and a huge whale too big for a human weighing scale. Moreover, after each tale came the math problems in three levels, easiest to hardest, Wee ones, Little kids, and Big kids. To give you an idea of the math problems, in this story Wee ones asked, "If an elephant weighs 8,000 pounds, an your car weighs 3,000 pounds, how much more does the elephant weigh?"; Little kids, "A ton is 2,000 pounds. If an elephant weighs 8,000 pounds, how many tons is that?; and Big 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?". Hence, this book had chock full of fun and interesting narratives that is making our bedtime story time thrilling and I'm confident that it will do the same for you!
Amusing stories, clever illustrations, and challenging math problems. Bedtime now is even more fun and building confidence!
Oh, I asked my kids what they would rate this book from a scale of 1 to 5 and with resounding yells came, Five!; No, Eleven!; No, a Thousand! There you have it.
Oh, oh, oh, that's not the end of it! When we turned the light off, we had a wonderful surprise. The stars and moon on the cover page glowed in the dark! Oh my, the oohs, the aahs, and "cool"-s that came was priceless. Ms Overdeck thought of everything!!
My 6 year old especially loves this book. During the day, she'll sneak the book to her room and tries to solve the problems. Another priceless moment. I tell ya, I'm one happy mama. Thanks Bedtime Math!
About Author & the Bedtime Math Organization
Bedtime Math is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to make nightly math problems as common as the bedtime story. Founded by mother of three Laura Overdeck, a trained astrophysicist who launched the program to encourage her own children’s interest in math, Bedtime Math’s nightly nationwide subscriber list tops 30,000 and its social media presence on Facebook and Twitter has grown exponentially. More information about Bedtime Math can be found online at their website. In addition to its upcoming book, the first of three to be published by Macmillan, the organization has received national attention for its work from The New York Times, TIME magazine, and on NPR in the past year.
On a related note: In honor of the book launch, bookstores, museums and libraries nationwide will host Bedtime Math National Pajama Party Week events from June 24-29, giving families a chance to take part in the national movement to make math fun, relevant, and an enjoyable part of everyday life. These free, family-friendly events are aimed at children ages 3-8 year and their parents, and will include a variety of math-inspired games and activities. Children are encouraged to come dressed in their pajamas and be ready to play.
Go HERE to see if there's a party in your area.
Giveaway
Thanks to Goodman Media/author, one of my readers will win a copy of this lovely book!To Enter:
- Must be at least 13 years old
- USA address only
- Fill in the rafflcopter below
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Very cool!! I get daily emails from them, too, with a different problem every day. We enjoy doing them. Thanks for the giveaway!
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