If your child loves numbers in every shape and size
1 Big Salad: A Delicious Counting Book
Author: Juana Medina
Illustrator: Juana Medina
Publisher: Viking, Penguin Young Readers Group
Recommended Age Range: 1 to 3
26 Letters and 99 Cents
Author: Tana Hoban
Illustrator: Tana Hoban
Publisher: Mulberry Books
Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8
Can You Count to a Googol? (Wells of Knowledge Science Series)
Author: Robert E. Wells
Illustrator: Robert E. Wells
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8
Awards: 2000 Gold Seal Award, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio; A Best Book for Children 2001, Science Books & Film
City by Numbers
Author: Stephen T. Johnson
Illustrator: Stephen T. Johnson (Photographer)
Publisher: Viking
Recommended Age Range: 5 to 8
Website
City by Numbers is a wonderful book of photographs that “discovers” the numbers 1 through 20 throughout a city. Children love this book and have many “aha” moments as they see such shapes as buildings, garbage cans, bridges, and window panes become numbers that they know. Creativity at its best.
Awards: Parenting Magazine’s Reading Magic Award; Parent Magazine’s Best Books of 1998
Great Estimations
Author: Bruce Goldstone
Illustrator: Bruce Goldstone (Photographer)
Publisher: Square Fish, Henry Holt and Company (Pbk.)
Recommended Age Range: 7 to 10
Website
Great Estimations is not a story per se; yet, it does show how to estimate an array of everyday, and not-so-everyday objects, in a visually stimulating and thought-provoking way.
Awards: The New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice; Bank Street – Best Children’s Book of the Year, 2007
Have You Seen My Dragon?
Author: Steve Light
Illustrator: Steve Light
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Recommended Age Range: 2 to 5
Website
A dragon in New York City? Well, yes (anything can happen in a children’s book ☺). And, as one boy searches for his lost dragon, we get to “travel” around the city counting such things as hot dogs, sailboats, fire hydrants, even pigeons. With black and white illustrations, and a little bit of color, this book is a true stand-out!
Awards: 2014 Parents’ Choice Award for Picture Books; ALA Notable Books; Mathical Award Winner
How many seeds in a pumpkin?
Author: Margaret McNamara
Illustrator: G. Brian Karas
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade Books, an Imprint of Random House Children’s Books
Recommended Age Range: 3 to 7
Website
How many seeds in a pumpkin? is a charming story about a little boy who does not like being the smallest in his class. Through wonderful, and surprising, facts about pumpkins, the author shows us – and the class –that it’s what’s inside that counts. After hearing this story, your child may bring home the smallest pumpkin in the pumpkin patch:)
Awards: 2008 Christopher Award, Books for Young People, Ages 6-8
How Much is a Million?
Author: David M. Schwartz
Illustrator: Steven Kellogg
Publisher: HarperTrophy, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (Pbk.)
Recommended Age Range: 5 to 9
Website
How Much is a Million? is a brilliant math book that takes huge numbers and makes them understandable to children. As a librarian, reading this book, I heard a lot of “That can’t be true!” This was followed by “Maybe it’s true.” And finally, “I’m going to ask my mom;” “I’m going to ask my dad.” On that note, you may get a lot of questions (the answers are in the back). ☺
Awards: A Reading Rainbow Book; ALA Notable Book; Children’s Book of the Month Club Main Selection; Horn Book Honor Book; Utah Informational Book Award; Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book; ALA Booklist Editor’s Choice; Bank Street Children’s Book Award
Infinity and Me
Author: Kate Hosford
Illustrator: Gabi Swiatkowska
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books
Recommended Age Range: 5 to 10
Website
A terrific story about the question all children ask: How big is infinity? When a young girl goes in search of this answer, she discovers that the answers are as big as infinity itself; yet, one answer resonates – the love she has for her grandmother. A beautiful and heartfelt story.
Awards: 2013 ALA Notable Children’s Book; A 2012 Junior Library Guild Selection; 2013 Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year; 2012 New York Times Best Illustrated Book Winner
Math Curse
Author: Jon Scieszka
Illustrator: Lane Smith
Publisher: Viking/Penguin Group
Recommended Age Range: 7 to 9
Website
Awards: An ALA Notable Children’s Book; Maine’s Student Favorite Book Award; New Hampshire’s The Great Stone Face Book Award; Texas Bluebonnet Award
One
Author: Kathryn Otoshi
Illustrator: Kathryn Otoshi
Publisher: KO Books for Kids
Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8
Website
Using numbers and colors, this brilliant story comes with a powerful message about the importance of standing up to a bully. Truly, “One” of-a-kind.
Awards: E.B. White Read Aloud Honor; Teacher’s Choice Award; Young Voices Foundation Award; Moonbeam Children’s Book Medalist; Mom’s Choice Award; Nautilus Gold Winner; IPPY Book Award; Hicklebee’s Book of the Year; NCIBA Best Illustrated Award
One Boy
Author: Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Illustrator: Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Publisher: A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press
Recommended Age Range: 2 to 6
Awards: Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book, 2009; ALA Notable Children’s Book, 2009; Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year, 2008; ALA Book Links Lasting Connections of 2008; New York Public Library Best Books for Giving and Sharing 2008; Booklist Editor’s Choice, 2008; Bank Street College of Education Best Books of 2008; NCTE Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts, 2008; South Dakota Prairie Bud Award
Website
Ten Little Ladybugs
Author: Melanie Gerth
Illustrator: Laura Huliska-Beith
Publisher: Piggy Toes Press
Recommended Age Range: 2 to 5
The Best of Times: Math Strategies That Multiply
Author: Greg Tang
Illustrator: Harry Briggs
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Recommended Age Range: 7 to 10
Website
The Grapes of Math: Mind-Stretching Math Riddles
Author: Greg Tang
Illustrator: Harry Briggs
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Recommended Age Range: 7 to 10
Website
The Huey’s in None the Number: A Counting Book
Author: Oliver Jeffers
Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers
Publisher: Philomel Books, an Imprint of Penguin Group (USA)
Recommended Age Range: 3 to 5
The Numberlys
Author: William Joyce
Illustrator: Christina Ellis
Publisher: Moonbot Books/Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Recommended Age Range: 3 to 7
Imagine a world without letters and you have The Numberlys; that is, until some friends decide to add a little “more” to their lives; something… “different.” And so, with a lot of hard work, persistence, and sheer grit, these friends go from numbers, to letters, to words and, with it, give voice to their world.
Awards: Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year Selection Title; Kansas State Reading Circle Primary Titles
The Rabbit Problem
Author: Emily Gravett
Illustrator: Emily Gravett
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8
Awards: USBBY Outstanding International Book; Kirkus Best Children’s Book
Two
Author: Kathryn Otoshi
Illustrator: Kathryn Otoshi
Publisher: KO Kids Books
Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8
Website
Feeling left out? In Katherine Otoshi’s wonderful book Two nothing comes between best friends One and Two; that is, until Three comes along. Then, odds are, someone gets left out; in this case Two. In her signature play on words, and ingenius way of introducing mathematical concepts, the author reminds us that including everyone is the best way to be, as agreed to by One, Two, and Three…
Zero
Author: Kathryn Otoshi
Illustrator: Kathryn Otoshi
Publisher: KO Kid’s Books
Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8
Website
Using the same characters from her brilliant book One, Kathryn Otoshi introduces readers to the concept of self-esteem. In essence, Zero feels that she has no “value” – unlike the other numbers.” Yet, with a little help from one through nine, she discovers that she can make all of her number friends “soar” by standing next to them. An ingenius way to show that we all have worth. ☺