100+ Books About Math for Curious Kids

$100+ Living Books on Math from Gina @ the Oaxacaborn blog$

Implementing Literature-Based Math with 100+ Kid-Approved Living Math Books

Books about math? Yes! Math!

And did you know there is a math section at the library? Our library has entire shelves filled with colorful, humorous, engaging books about math. Each week, my daughter pulls my arm out of my socket dragging me to the math section. (Yes, we’re talking about my numbers-obsessed five-year-old, who constantly reminds me how upset she is that her math curriculum hasn’t covered pi and x,y graphing yet.)

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Much of this list, actually, is her recommendation. (The “Math to Know” volume in the image above? We had to have it re-bound by Office Depot, because she wore the binding right out.) So this truly is a selection of kid-approved books. Every asterisk (*) after a title below indicates that she’s already read the book, and many of the ones without an asterisk are on her wish list/library list.

A few books, like Life of Fred and Beast Academy, didn’t make the list, mostly because they’re already so popular. Curriculum like the much-beloved Singapore Math isn’t here, either. And dozens more books didn’t make the list just out of the sheer finite nature of time (I am already planning a second list of 100 more kid-approved books about math. Wow. I never thought I would say those words).

So here we go! Let’s start with…

Kid-Approved Math Books About Multiplication and Division

26. If You Were a Divided-By Sign by Trisha Speed Shaskan*

27. Division by Joseph Midthun*

28. Multiplication by Joseph Midthun*

29. If You Were a Times Sign by Trisha Speed Shaskan*

Kid-Approved Math Books About Addition and Subtraction

30. Subtraction by Joseph Midthun*

31. The Action of Subtraction by Brian P. Cleary*

32. If You Were a Minus Sign by Trisha Speed Shaskan

33. The Mission of Addition by Brian P. Cleary*

34. Addition by Joseph Midthun*

Kid-Approved Math Books About Fractions

35. Fractions in Disguise: A Math Adventure by Edward Einhorn*

36. Fraction Fun by David A Adler*

37. Fractions by Joseph Midthun*

38. If You Were a Fraction by Trisha Speed Shaskan*

39. A Fraction’s Goal – Parts of a Whole by Brian P. Cleary

Kid-Approved Math Books About Measurements

40. Mass and Weight by Barbara A. Somervill*

41. On the Scale, a Weighty Tale by Brian P. Cleary*

42. If You Were a Quart or a Liter by Marcie Aboff*

43. How Long or How Wide? A Measuring Guide by Brian P. Cleary*

44. Distance, Area, and Volume by Barbara A. Somervill*

45. Great Estimations by Bruce Goldstone*

46. Greater Estimations by Bruce Goldstone

47. How Big is a Foot? by Rolf Myller

Kid-Approved Math Books About Geometry

48. Triangles by David A. Adler*

49. If You Were a Quadrilateral by Molly Blaisdell*

50. The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns

51. Windows, Rings and Grapes: A Look at Different Shapes by Brian P Cleary

52. A-B-A-B-A – A Book of Pattern Play by Brian P Cleary

53. Basher Algebra and Geometry by Dan Green and Simon Basher

Kid-Approved Math Books About Time

54. Telling Time: How to Tell Time on Digital and Analog Clocks by Jules Older*

55. Time Zones by David A. Adler*

56. If You Were a Minute by Trisha Speed Shaskan*

57. A Second, A Minute, A Week with Days in It by Brian P. Cleary

Kid-Approved Math Books About Money

58. The Everything Kids Money Book

59. The Story of Money by Betsy Maestro

60. The History of Money: From Bartering to Banking by Martin Jenkins

61. How Many Pennies Make a Dollar by Rebecca Wingard-Nelson*

62. I Can Count Money by Rebecca Wingard-Nelson*

63. I Can Do Money Word Problems by Rebecca Wingard-Nelson*

64. I Can Add Bills and Coins by Rebecca Wingard-Nelson

65. I Can Subtract Bills and Coins by Rebecca Wingard-Nelson

66. I Can Name Bills and Coins by Rebecca Wingard-Nelson

67. You Can’t Buy a Dinosaur With a Dime: Problem-solving in Dollars and Cents by Harriet Ziefert*

68. Money Madness by David A. Adler

69. A Dollar, A Penny, How Much and How Many? By Brian P. Cleary

Kid-Approved Math Books About Numbers

70. Basher Math: A Book You Can Count On by Simon Basher

71. If You Were an Even Number by Marcie Aboff*

72. If You Were an Odd Number by Marcie Aboff*

73. Numbers by Joseph Midthun*

74. Place Value by David A. Adler

75. A Place for Zero by Angeline Sparagna LoPresti

Kid-Approved Novels and Short Stories About Math

76. 7 x 9 = Trouble! by Claudia Mills*

77. A Grain of Rice by Helena Clair Pittman*

78. The King’s Chessboard by David Birch*

79. Anno’s Magic Seeds by Mitsumasa Anno

80. Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar by Masaichiro and Mitsumasa Anno

81. Sorting Through Spring by Lizann Flatt

82. Shaping up Summer by Lizann Flatt

83. Counting on Fall by Lizann Flatt

84. Sizing up Winter by Lizann Flatt

85. Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford

86. The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat by Theoni Pappas

87. The Further Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat by Theoni Pappas

88. Puzzles from Penrose the Mathematical Cat by Theoni Pappas

89. Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi by Cindy Neuschwander

90. Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone by Cindy Neuschwander

91. Fractals, Googols, and Other Mathematical Tales by Theoni Pappas

92. The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins*

93. Stacks of Trouble by Liza Woodruff

Kid-Approved Consumable, Lesson Plan and Activity Math Books

94. Shanghai Math Project Practice Book, Year 1*

95. Picturing Math: Hands-On Activities to Connect Math With Picture Books by Colleen Kessler

96. Fibonacci Fun: Fascinating Activities With Intriguing Numbers by Trudi Hammel Garland

97. Clever Kids Math, Ages 5-7: Entertaining Activities Especially for Children*

98. Family Math by Jean Kerr Stenmark

Kid-Approved Math Books about Roman Numerals

99. Fun with Roman Numerals by David A. Adler*

100. Roman Numerals I to MM: Liber De Difficillimo Computando Numerum by Arthur Geisert*

Kid-Approved Math Books about Probability

101. That’s a Possibility!: A Book About What Might Happen by Bruce Goldstone*

102. Probably Pistachio by Stuart J. Murphy

So there you have it! Did I miss your favorite math books? Let me know!

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$100+ Kid-Approved Books About Math from Gina @ the Oaxacaborn blog$

5 thoughts on “100+ Books About Math for Curious Kids”

Gwen says:

November 21, 2016 at 10:19 am

This is such a great list! A lot of choices to make learning Math fun! Thanks so much!

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rawsonjl says:

April 21, 2017 at 6:36 pm

Wow! This is an amazing list! We have read a few of these; I often try to read books about math to reinforce whatever we’re learning about.

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Betty | CHALK Academy says:

May 14, 2019 at 1:36 am

Thank you for this amazing list of math stories! This is right up my daughter’s alley! If you had to pick the top 5 favorites, which would they be? Trying to figure out which ones to get first! :-)

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1. Gina @ Oaxacaborn says:
  
  May 14, 2019 at 12:01 pm
  My daughter suggests, in no particular order:
  - The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos by Deborah Heiligman
  - Any of the “Penrose the Mathematical Cat” books
  - Basher Math: A Book You Can Count On by Simon Basher
  - Anno’s Magic Seeds by Mitsumasa Anno
  - Bedtime Math series (easier) and One-Minute Mysteries You Solve With Math (more difficult)
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