Math Appeal: Mind-Stretching Math Riddles

By Greg Tang

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Greg Tang challenges kids to solve problems creatively in this follow-up to MATH FOR ALL SEASONS.

In this book you'll learn to see
How very clever you can be.
We'll teach you tricks to help you add,
Some day in math class you'll be glad

In this follow-up to MATH FOR ALL SEASONS, Greg Tang underscores the importance of four basic rules in problem-solving. Keeping an open mind, looking for unusual number combinations, using multiple skills (like subtracting to add) and looking for patterns will guarantee any child success in math. In MATH APPEAL, Tang continues to challenge kids with his innovative approach to math.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439210461
• ISBN13: 9780439210461
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Scholastic, Incorporated
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.0" x 10.0"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Great Math book

This is a fun book for math. I teach 4th grade and my students love it. Great pictures!

A fun way to do math

Like all of Greg Tang's other math books, he takes math problems, sets them to rhyme, and gets your kids solving math problems. He gives a clue in the rhyme to help kids organize their counting patterns, and then the counting begins. The art work in his books is vibrant, bold, and fun. For example, he has children counting chili peppers in red and green hues while the opposite page has a cactus mariachi band playing at sunset. He's got partying peapods and a singing clam to help you count star fish. He also throws in some facts about the items you are counting (example--"with little suction cups for feet..." used for the starfish or "they somehow know to make a V, instead of flying randomly..." for the geese) which add a nice touch to his book. This is a fun way to teach kids about math and groupings without doing rote math facts.

Fabulous Mental Math Challenge

Greg Tang gives us one more fantastic book. You will want to share this book with your "thinkers." I use this book with my fifth graders to help foster mental math skills. Tang teaches us how to look at groups of objects in an organized kind of way, and to add the objects quickly and efficiently. My son who is in kindergarten loves to look at the pictures, and challenges himself to add the objects. We have lots of fun!

"Math Appeal" Appeals To Kids!

One of my favourite books to read to my students is The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang. And now along with it, is Math Appeal, the sequel. Once again, what I love best about Tang's books is that it provides strategies for students and it shows them that thinking does not need to be linear -- that thinking outside the box shows creativity. Tang shows that there are different methods to an answer and that the thought process is just as important. As a teacher, I'm looking for higher level of thought from my students, for creativity and for them to be able to explain their thinking. Each page in Math Appeal becomes a daily challenge for the students, who in turn eagerly attempt these challenges. We're looking forward to the next book!