Math Literature and Nonfiction, Gr. 6 - 8
All of these books are available at the Brookline Public Library! You can also find them at local retailers and online for purchase.
There are, of course, hundreds more books with fantastic math connections, but these will get you started.
There are, of course, hundreds more books with fantastic math connections, but these will get you started.
The Island of the Unknowns
by Benedict Carey (Amazon)
Call Number: TEEN RL CAR
This gripping mystery, spiked with math clues, follows quirky outcasts Lady Di and Tom Jones as they try to save their woebegone island community. In their trailer park next to the Folsom Energy Plant, people have started to vanish, and no one seems to care. At first the kids barely notice the disappearances themselves—until their beloved math tutor, Mrs. Clarke, is abducted too. Mrs. Clarke has left them clues to her whereabouts in the form of equations that lead them all over the trailer park, through hidden tunnels under nearby “Mount Trashmore,” and into the Folsom Energy Plant itself, where Lady Di and Tom Jones and a gang of other misfits uncover the sordid truth about what’s really happening on their island.
Readers “will be swept up in the fast talk and exciting action” (Booklist) of this “inheritor of The Westing Game” (Kirkus) that is sure to make math lovers of even the most determined number-phobes.
MATH KEYWORDS: problem solving
by Benedict Carey (Amazon)
Call Number: TEEN RL CAR
This gripping mystery, spiked with math clues, follows quirky outcasts Lady Di and Tom Jones as they try to save their woebegone island community. In their trailer park next to the Folsom Energy Plant, people have started to vanish, and no one seems to care. At first the kids barely notice the disappearances themselves—until their beloved math tutor, Mrs. Clarke, is abducted too. Mrs. Clarke has left them clues to her whereabouts in the form of equations that lead them all over the trailer park, through hidden tunnels under nearby “Mount Trashmore,” and into the Folsom Energy Plant itself, where Lady Di and Tom Jones and a gang of other misfits uncover the sordid truth about what’s really happening on their island.
Readers “will be swept up in the fast talk and exciting action” (Booklist) of this “inheritor of The Westing Game” (Kirkus) that is sure to make math lovers of even the most determined number-phobes.
MATH KEYWORDS: problem solving
Sir Cumference series
by Cindy Neuschwander (Amazon)
Call Number: j516 Neu
The Sir Cumference books read like picture books, but develop some upper elementary and middle school geometric ideas. Explore the world of Sir Cumference, his wife Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius.
Titles include:
- Sir Cumference and the First Round Table
- Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone
- Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens
- Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland
- Sir Cumference and the Off-the-Chart Dessert
- Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi
- Sir Cumference and the Viking's Map
- Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter
- Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle
MATH KEYWORDS: geometry, circles, angles, ratios, measurement
by Cindy Neuschwander (Amazon)
Call Number: j516 Neu
The Sir Cumference books read like picture books, but develop some upper elementary and middle school geometric ideas. Explore the world of Sir Cumference, his wife Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius.
Titles include:
- Sir Cumference and the First Round Table
- Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone
- Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens
- Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland
- Sir Cumference and the Off-the-Chart Dessert
- Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi
- Sir Cumference and the Viking's Map
- Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter
- Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle
MATH KEYWORDS: geometry, circles, angles, ratios, measurement
Freakanomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Amazon)
Call Number:
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?
What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
How much do parents really matter?
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to parenting and sports—and reaches conclusions that turn conventional wisdom on its head.
Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much more.
Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, they show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.
*Some parental advisory cautioned
MATH KEYWORDS: economics, quantitative reasoning, graphing
by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Amazon)
Call Number:
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?
What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
How much do parents really matter?
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to parenting and sports—and reaches conclusions that turn conventional wisdom on its head.
Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much more.
Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, they show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.
*Some parental advisory cautioned
MATH KEYWORDS: economics, quantitative reasoning, graphing
Professor Stewart's Incredible Numbers
by Ian Stewart (Amazon)
Call Number:
At its heart, mathematics is about numbers, our fundamental tools for understanding the world. In Professor Stewart’s Incredible Numbers, Ian Stewart offers a delightful introduction to the numbers that surround us, from the common (Pi and 2) to the uncommon but no less consequential (1.059463 and 43,252,003,274,489,856,000). Along the way, Stewart takes us through prime numbers, cubic equations, the concept of zero, the possible positions on the Rubik’s Cube, the role of numbers in human history, and beyond! An unfailingly genial guide, Stewart brings his characteristic wit and erudition to bear on these incredible numbers, offering an engaging primer on the principles and power of math.
MATH KEYWORDS:
by Ian Stewart (Amazon)
Call Number:
At its heart, mathematics is about numbers, our fundamental tools for understanding the world. In Professor Stewart’s Incredible Numbers, Ian Stewart offers a delightful introduction to the numbers that surround us, from the common (Pi and 2) to the uncommon but no less consequential (1.059463 and 43,252,003,274,489,856,000). Along the way, Stewart takes us through prime numbers, cubic equations, the concept of zero, the possible positions on the Rubik’s Cube, the role of numbers in human history, and beyond! An unfailingly genial guide, Stewart brings his characteristic wit and erudition to bear on these incredible numbers, offering an engaging primer on the principles and power of math.
MATH KEYWORDS:
Chasing Vermeer
by Blue Balliett, illustrated by Brett Helquist (Amazon)
Call Number:
This bewitching first novel is a puzzle, wrapped in a mystery, disguised as an adventure, and delivered as a work of art.
When a book of unexplainable occurences brings Petra and Calder together, strange things start to happen: Seemingly unrelated events connect; an eccentric old woman seeks their company; an invaluable Vermeer painting disappears. Before they know it, the two find themselves at the center of an international art scandal, where no one is spared from suspicion. As Petra and Calder are drawn clue by clue into a mysterious labyrinth, they must draw on their powers of intuition, their problem solving skills, and their knowledge of Vermeer. Can they decipher a crime that has stumped even the FBI?
MATH KEYWORDS:
by Blue Balliett, illustrated by Brett Helquist (Amazon)
Call Number:
This bewitching first novel is a puzzle, wrapped in a mystery, disguised as an adventure, and delivered as a work of art.
When a book of unexplainable occurences brings Petra and Calder together, strange things start to happen: Seemingly unrelated events connect; an eccentric old woman seeks their company; an invaluable Vermeer painting disappears. Before they know it, the two find themselves at the center of an international art scandal, where no one is spared from suspicion. As Petra and Calder are drawn clue by clue into a mysterious labyrinth, they must draw on their powers of intuition, their problem solving skills, and their knowledge of Vermeer. Can they decipher a crime that has stumped even the FBI?
MATH KEYWORDS:
The Rabbit Problem
by Emily Gravett (Amazon)
Call Number: Picture jP Gravett, Emily
How does 1+1 = 288? A family of rabbits soon supplies the answer in this funny story! Hop along to Fibonacci's Field and follow Lonely and Chalk Rabbit through a year as they try to cope with their fast expanding brood and handle a different seasonal challenge each month, from the cold of February to the wet of April and the heat of July. This extraordinary picture book is packed with gorgeous details and novelty elements including a baby rabbit record book, a carrot recipe book and a surprise pop-up ending.
MATH KEYWORDS: patterns, problem solving
by Emily Gravett (Amazon)
Call Number: Picture jP Gravett, Emily
How does 1+1 = 288? A family of rabbits soon supplies the answer in this funny story! Hop along to Fibonacci's Field and follow Lonely and Chalk Rabbit through a year as they try to cope with their fast expanding brood and handle a different seasonal challenge each month, from the cold of February to the wet of April and the heat of July. This extraordinary picture book is packed with gorgeous details and novelty elements including a baby rabbit record book, a carrot recipe book and a surprise pop-up ending.
MATH KEYWORDS: patterns, problem solving
If the World Were a Village
by David J. Smith, illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong (Amazon)
Call Number: j304.2 Smi
This eye-opening book has sold over 400,000 copies in 17 languages, and has become a classic since its initial publication in 2002. It promotes "world-mindedness" by imagining the world's population ? all 6.8 billion of us ? as a village of just 100 people. Now, If the World Were a Village has been newly revised with updated statistics, several new activities and completely new material on food security, energy and health. By exploring the lives of the 100 villagers, children will discover that life in other nations is often very different from their own. If the World Were a Village is part of CitizenKid: A collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens.
MATH KEYWORDS: real world, proportions, statistics
by David J. Smith, illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong (Amazon)
Call Number: j304.2 Smi
This eye-opening book has sold over 400,000 copies in 17 languages, and has become a classic since its initial publication in 2002. It promotes "world-mindedness" by imagining the world's population ? all 6.8 billion of us ? as a village of just 100 people. Now, If the World Were a Village has been newly revised with updated statistics, several new activities and completely new material on food security, energy and health. By exploring the lives of the 100 villagers, children will discover that life in other nations is often very different from their own. If the World Were a Village is part of CitizenKid: A collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens.
MATH KEYWORDS: real world, proportions, statistics