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Math Curse (Hardcover) (Hardcover)
by Jon Scieszka
Category:
Maths, Learning, Education, Ages 4-8, Children's book |
Market price: ¥ 198.00
MSL price:
¥ 178.00
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MSL rating:
Good for Gifts
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MSL Pointer Review:
Great real-life math book to train your child to be an analytical thinker. |
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Author: Jon Scieszka
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Pub. in: October, 1995
ISBN: 0670861944
Pages: 32
Measurements: 11.4 x 11.1 x 0.4 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00107
Other information: Library Binding edition
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- MSL Picks -
From the inventive minds of Scieszka and Smith comes an unusual take on the subject of mathematics. More for the "Time Warp Trio" audience than for Stinky Cheese Man (1992, both Viking) devotees, Math Curse opens with the ominously simple statement, "You know, you can think of almost everything as a math problem." From that point on, the young narrator is overwhelmed with daily math. Getting dressed, eating breakfast, getting to school? Everything involves addition, subtraction, measurement, probability, etc. Questions are boxed and numbered within the narrative, just as they might appear in a textbook. The questions, however, are not always typical workbook queries. For example, "I take the milk out for my cereal and wonder: 1.How many quarts in a gallon? 2. How many pints in a quart? 3. How many inches in a foot? 4. How many feet in a yard? 5. How many yards in a neighborhood? How many inches in a pint? How many feet are in my shoes?" Some of the humor may have to be explained to readers. Kids will be able to figure out most of the problems on their own, depending on their grasp of fractions. Smith's illustrations are wild and rollicking. Combining drawings with collage, he creates a multi-textured school scene that reflects the narrator's confusion. Numbers are everywhere, but so are whimsical touches such as the individual expressions on the 24 cherries that adorn the class's cupcakes. This title can certainly be used as lighthearted relief in math class, but the story will be heartily enjoyed simply for its zany humor and nonstop sense of fun.
Target readers:
Kids aged 4-8
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Jon Scieszka was born in Flint, Michigan on September 8th, 1954. He grew up with five brothers, has the same birthday as Peter Sellers and the Virgin Mary, and a sneaking suspicion that the characters in his Dick and Jane reader were not of this world.
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In the story, a girl wakes up one morning to find everything in life arranging itself into a math problem. Throughout the school day, each minor event inspires her to create new sets of math problems, which quickly develop from the merely arithmetical to the moderately puzzling to the truly wacky. Other kids in math-across-the-curriculum classes may sympathize when the teacher asks how to divide Rebecca's 24 cupcakes among 25 people: "I'm the first to figure out the answer. / I raise my hand and tell Mrs. Fibonacci / I'm allergic to cupcakes." She decides that her teacher has put a math curse on her, but in her dreams that night; she finds a way out of her mathematical mindset. Bold in design and often bizarre in expression, Smith's paintings clearly express the child's feelings of bemusement, frustration, and panic as well as her eventual joy when she overcomes the math curse. Scieszka and Smith triumph, too, at the top of their class as artists and entertainers, their distinctive voice and original vision creating a child-centered, witty picture book about the woes of math anxiety.
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Patricia A. Powell (MSL quote), Gladstone, USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
I bought this book for my daughter when she was in kindergarten. "Again Mommy." she demanded after I had read it to her. And so, I read it again. "Again Mommy." And so, I read it to her again. "Again Mommy." and so... I have long since lost track of how many times we read the book. It starts with Mrs. Fibonnaci telling her class that "You know, you can think of almost everything as a math problem." And we're off on adventure of doing just that.
The illustrations are wonderful, and match the text perfectly. The book is silly for young children and funny for older children. It is obvious and subtle at the same time. I think this is why some reviewers think that it miscategorized as being for ages 4 to 8. There is so much in the book that kids see it differently at different ages. My daughter is now in 4th grade and she still takes this book off the shelf to read... just for fun. Recently she had a math assignment to show a series of numbers. She chose a Fibonnaci series. This book stays with you.
The book ends with Mr. Newton telling his class "You know, you can think of almost everything as a science experiment." Note to the author: I'm waiting for you to write the Science Curse.
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E. R. Bird (MSL quote), Manhattan, NY
<2006-12-31 00:00>
I'm always fascinated by those picture books so incredibly popular that they inspire highly sought after sequels. We expect sequels from popular movies and television shows, but picture books are a different matter entirely. What is it about a good book for children that causes masses of people to clamor for another of its ilk? I ask all of this because Jon Scieszka's ingenious, Math Curse, is a perfect example of what I'm asking. Telling a simple tale of a boy (or possibly a girl) as he/she becomes enmeshed in a never ending day o' math problems, the book has recently been joined by the equally amusing "Science Verse". As such, it deserves closer inspection.
One day our protagonist (who, for lack of a gender, I will refer to in as unbiased a manner as I possibly can) wakes up with a problem. Just the day before, the kid's teacher pronounced that, "You know, you can think of almost everything as a math problem". Whoopsie! Before you know it our hero is spinning in an out-of-control vortex of mathematically inspired thoughts and questions. They range from the practical questions you'd often receive in school ("Mrs. Fibonacci has this CHART of what month everyone's birthday is in: 1. Which month has the most birthdays? 2. Which month has the fewest") to the downright silly ("What is another way to say 1/2 of an apple pie? a. 2/6. b. 3/6. C. la moitie d'une tarte aux pommes"). By the end of the day our little protagonist can't take it any more. Fortunately a fortuitous dream ends all math problems and in the morning everything's the same again. This is until the teacher thinks to mention, "You know, you can think of almost everything as a science experiment".
Don't get the impression by this review that this book is going to be dull to you parental English majors out there. I can personally assure you that as a child/teen/adult I have hated and continue to hate all math related ventures. Nonetheless, this book charmed me. First of all, that has a lot to do with its creators. I turn your attention now to the incomparable Jon Scieszka (pronounced shiss-ka, or so I am told) and his partner in crime Lane Smith. If you're already familiar with their particularly original, The Stinky Cheese Man, and Other Fairly Stupid Tales or The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, then you have some sort of an idea what to expect. Both men are delightful twisted, but twisted in entirely different ways. While Scieszka puns and takes an especial pleasure in silly statements and questions, Lane illustrates his pictures with creative psychotic aplomb. The result is a book that's as vastly original as it is enjoyable to read through.
Genuinely funny picture books are always too far and few between. Since I can honestly tell you that this book is a droll little piece of chicanery that you should be sure not to miss, you've no need to worry. Just go out and purchase it for your kids, your kids' friends, and children you've never seen before in your life but who may enjoy the laudable, Math Curse. It'll do you a spot of good.
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Encompassed Runner (MSL quote), Florida, USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
After her math teacher "Mrs. Fibonacci" says that almost everything could be thought of as a math problem, the narrator enters a bizarre realm where "everything seems to be a problem," and it gets increasingly worse, as she becomes a "math zombie" before the brilliant (and for older folks, profound) conclusion. The math problems start out simple ("It takes me 10 minutes to get dressed...If my bus leaves at 8:00, will I make it on time?"), even English is a math problem ("If mail+box=mailbox... Does lipstick-stick=lip?)" Money, time, measurement, fractions, sequences, estimation, sets, logic and more are covered-there's even a quadratic formula and mention of Zeno! The brilliance of this book is that it anticipates and removes the obstacle of math phobia, specifically fear of word problems, which I saw more often than not back when I was a math teacher. Although the book cover says "For ages > 6 and < 99," and that is true because of the layers of relevance, I'd especially recommend it for early third grade, that way by the time the onslaught of word problems begins; word problems will seem more like word "puzzles" and fun. Great critical thinking tool, fun both in its story and visuals. |
Mary Leo (MSL quote), CA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
Jon and Lane have taken the stuffiness and boredom out of math with their very creative and inventive book, Math Curse. Math problems, told in plain English with twist and fun, combined with detailed, vibrant illustrations, challenge kids to look at things seemingly familiar in new ways. The essence of the book is in the statement: "You know, you can think of almost everything as a math problem." Instead of formulas and memorization, Jon and Lane tell stories and bring math insight to the unaware minds. Once armed with the math eyes, my son started looking for patterns, regrouping numbers, combining multiples, and subtracting first, in order to add. Math Curse is perfect for first to third graders. It is thought provoking and mind opening. Kids don't even know they're solving math problems. They'll think they're just having fun!
Math Curse is one of the only two math activities my son loves to do, without reminding. (The other is the Beestar weekly math at Beestar.org). I highly recommend this book to every parent.
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