Special Selection
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos
by Deborah Heiligman, 2014
- Grade level: 2-4
- Reading level: 3.4
- Rating:
- Genre: Narrative nonfiction
I love finding new interesting books to buy when my children’s book orders are sent out, and in one of the recent book orders I came across the book The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdös. I thought it sounded interesting, so I bought it to add to my collection.
The Boy Who Loved Math tells about the life of Paul Erdös, who was fascinated at an early age by numbers. The book discusses his life growing up in Budapest, Hungary, becoming known as The Magician from Budapest and traveling around the world teaching others about math. Math concepts and numbers are included throughout, which add to the text.
I thought this book was a charming, enjoyable read-aloud for grade school children to learn about the life of a great mathematician and for those who love math. The Boy Who Loved Math has a reading level of 3.4, so it is easy to understand and can be read independently. Younger grade school children would enjoy listening to the book read aloud and could gain interesting insight from it about the value of mathematical thinking. The illustrations are colorful, and the world of math is incorporated into the artwork. The end of the book includes notes from the author and illustrator, which are full of more information about Paul Erdös and the illustrations. I would highly recommend adding this book to your classroom library!
The Right Word:
Roget and His
Theasurus
by Jen Bryant
& Melissa Sweet, 2014
- Grade level: 3-5
- Reading level: 4.1
- Rating:
- Genre: Biography
From the very beginning of this brilliant picture book, in the intro in fact, words magically and artistically are arranged to tell the tale of Peter Mark Roget’s remarkable life of words. Even at a young age and into his teens, Peter was finding pleasure and righting the lopsided world by making lists and lists of words. Despite discouragement from his own father, Peter went on to be a doctor, maintaining his passion for words by sharing them both in print and verbally across the globe. For many years, Peter knew, “Words...are powerful things,” and he believed every person should share in this power by locating the perfect word when needed. This power was given to ALL people when he published his “treasure house” of words...his Thesaurus.
Through this book, teachers can touch upon timelines, history, and influential individuals in Social Studies. These topics can be paired with lists, writing, and synonyms in Language Arts. I highly recommend this book as an addition to any Language Arts AND Social Studies curriculum. When you read it for yourself, I hope you, too, will discover that, “Words...are” indeed “powerful things!”
Reviewed by Tami Guerin, who is a wife, mother, and full-time graduate student at MSU in Springfield, MO.
Reviewed by Julie Bryant, Associate Professor of Education at Southwest Baptist University where she teaches future teachers to love words.
Raving Reviews
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