Mathematickles!

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-5-Words + math + seasons = an enchanting collection of poems in an unusual format. Salerno's energetic, angled impressions of autumn trees and animals lead into the ice, snow, sledding, and sneezing of winter, followed by the rain, flowers, and new life of spring and the barefoot fun of lazy days and sudden summer storms. Freely painted swirls and angles form bold background designs as a dark-haired child appears on each spread along with Franco's poetic equations: "feet - shoes + grass = barefoot!," "rooftops + first snow = white blanket," and "hexagons x frozen lace = snow flurry." Addition and subtraction of words create descriptive poetry as do graphic depictions of frogs playing leapfrog, a snowball fight, or a bird taking flight. Multiply the uses for this book by adding it to poetry collections and exercises in word problems during math studies.Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TXCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Gr. 2-4, younger for reading aloud. As the jacket states, "words + math + seasons = Mathematickles!" This book offers brief poems using forms suggested by mathematical processes, all within a seasonal framework changing from fall to winter to spring to summer. Some of the cleverest examples are too visual to relate effectively in text alone, but a few equations will give a taste of Franco's offerings: "maple leaves + puddle = crimson ships"; "holes + nuts - nuts = squirrel hide & seek"; and "feet - shoes + grass = barefoot." Two, three, or four of these poems appear on each double-page spread, accompanied by Salerno's jaunty, watercolor-and-gouache artwork. Although some of the spreads seem too busy, others look fresh and energetic. A girl, often accompanied by her cat, brings continuity to the scenes of the countryside going through colorful seasonal changes. Though the inspiration for these poetic bits may be mathematical, they don't always display the logic that is fundamental to math. Ultimately, they will appeal most to lovers of wordplay. Using this colorful book as a springboard, language arts teachers can challenge their students to write their own mathematickles. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
crisp air shadows tall + cat's thick coat signs of fall Join a girl and her cat on a magical tour of the seasons as they wend their way through colorful, math-filled landscapes and jubilant, fun-filled mathscapes. Poet Betsy Franco and fine artist Steven Salerno playfully combine the language of poetry and simple mathematical concepts with stunning artwork -- an equation that equals Mathematickles!


Card catalog description
A collection of poems written in the form of mathematical problems and grouped according to seasonal themes.


About the Author
A poet who loves math, Betsy Franco has spent more than twenty years showing children the beauty, depth, and fun of mathematics through her picture books, poetry, and nonfiction, including Counting Caterpillars and Other Math Poems, Grandpa's Quilt, You Hear Me? Poems and Writings by Teenage Boys, and Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writings by Teenage Girls. She is also the inventor of three mathematical toys. Betsy Franco lives with her husband in Palo Alto, California. They have three sons.


Buy from Amazon     Compare Prices

Franco adds to her mathematical oeuvre with this clever collection of poems written in the form of equations and grouped by seasonal themes. The first, for example, is vertical-like addition. "Crisp air / shadows tall / cat's thick coat / signs of fall." Another has few words ("orchard, baskets, ripeapples"), but it is presented as a division problem and reads "orchard divided by baskets = ripeapples." Salerno's illustrations, rendered in watercolor and gouache, with bright colors and broad, grainy brush strokes, have a nostalgic feel. In one full-bleed spread, green and yellow frogs leap from forest-green lily pads with pink and yellow water lilies. Raindrops streak the page, making circular splats in the blue pond. Except for the use of mathematical symbols and forms, this really has nothing to do with math; there are no problems to solve. Without some mathematical knowledge, however, the poems lose meaning. By incorporating the language of mathematics, Franco pushes readers to view the poems through a different lens-and with a more critical eye. (author's note) (Poetry. 8-10)


Buy from Barnes & Noble     Compare Prices