We asked Erin Barker, a manager and buyer at Hooray for Books! in Alexandria, Vancouver, to recommend some books that can help pique a child's interest in mathematics. Here are her suggestions, by age group.
Preschool: "Miss Lina's Ballerinas" by Grace Maccarone. The eight dancers in this picture book are accustomed to arranging themselves in four lines of two, but when a new girl joins the mix, it throws off their lines. The ballerinas have to figure out how to arrange themselves in even lines now that they are a group of nine.
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Ages 4-8: "Iggy Peck, Architect" and "Rosie Revere, Engineer" by Andrea Beaty. Humorous picture books about a boy and girl who are interested, respectively, in the math-based careers of architecture and engineering.
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Ages 8-12: "The Puzzling World of Winston Breen" series by Eric Berlin. The three mysteries in the series focus on Winston, a boy who loves puzzles and finds them everywhere. The books include puzzles for children to work as they read.
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High school: "Nearly Gone" by Elle Cosimano. Nearly Boswell, a high-school junior, is trying to solve a murder mystery by deciphering math riddles and other clues in the personal ads of the newspaper.
