Reader's Response: This was another book my 10th grade geometry teacher read to my class. I thought math was pretty pointless until I entered her class. She always taught to those who had a negative math attitude. It was as if her goal was make us, students, fall in love with math. This book was the book that made me have a deep appreciation for mathematics especially, now, after re-reading it. The story is about a boy who has a great phobia for math. He also dreams a lot at night. The book illustrates 12 of his dream, and each dream focuses on a particular math concept.
Evaluator's Response: What I appreciated about this book is that it addresses the issue of "math phobia" or apathetic attitudes towards math. Many students fear that they are not a "math student" or math is irrelevant in the world. One of the strengths of this book is that it turns math lessons into a story between a boy and his dream state. By weaving in and out of his consciousness, we also grasp a deep understand of large math concepts. The book does a fine job of unpacking rigorous math concepts through a colorful narrative. Another strength is that the book uses very friendly words to explain math concepts instead of technical math vocabulary. For example, the book uses the word 'hopping" to describe exponentiation. One weakness is that it does not discuss anything about women's issues in mathematics or people of color. Women and people of color are severely underrepresented in the field of mathematics and science. Therefore, this under representation sends a message stating that there is no room for people of color or women in this field. I would have loved to see more diversity within the choice of characters to disprove that message.
Teacher's Response: If a student truly enjoyed this book, I would recommend reading 1-2-3, to the Zoo by Eric Carle. It is a beautifully illustrated picture book about numbers. Also I recommend 12 Different Ways to Get to 11 by Eve Merriam. It is a fun and cute picture book that focuses on the concepts of The Associative and Commutative Properties of Addition. I also strongly recommend Number Sense and Nonsense by Claudia Zaslavsky. Each chapter of this book focuses on a particular math skill, but it teaches the skill through a narrative instead of a procedural manner. I love this book because it focuses on students developing a stronger number sense through literacy.
Literacy Coach's Response: As a literacy coach and math teacher, I strongly recommend that math teachers use this book to set up the norm, attitude, and culture toward mathematics in the classroom. I also recommend that teachers use this book to build math vocabulary such as exponents, integers, zero, Fibonacci, square roots etc. by introducing the vocabulary before reading the text. Also to ensure that the students comprehended the story and math concepts, I would recommend allowing student to create their own illustration to go with each chapter. You can teach each chapter in isolation by picking a chapter the corresponds with what unit your are about to teach. This book goes great with units on the number system, geometry, and probability.
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