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Stories and literature are great access points to math. The language that we use to describe and discuss math contributes greatly to our understanding and love for math. Picture and storybooks in particular are rich and marvelous ways to explore math.
Here are 13 amazing books about math for kids.
Author: Rajani Larocca
Illustrator: Archana Sreenivasan
Age group: 6 to 8 years
What a stunning book on math this is and how cleverly it engages the child in a friendly lesson in binary numbers, the root of all computing!
An Indian boy untangles a mathematical conundrum to win a place at the Rajah's court. He wants to ensure his family's prosperity by winning a place at the court as a singer. Bhagat carries his family's entire fortune--a single coin and a chain of seven golden rings--to pay for his lodging. But when the innkeeper demands one ring per night, and every link snipped costs one coin, how can Bhagat both break the chain and avoid overpaying?
Author: Priya Narayanan
Illustrator: Satwik Gade
Age group: 6 to 8 years
The book is about the famous Indian mathematician who found numbers fascinating and who saw patterns everywhere, from kolams to temple architecture.
My daughter loved this part - when Ramanujan was a child. His teacher said, "If you divide any number by itself, you will get 1. For example, if you divide 3 fruits among 3 people, each will get 1."
Ramanujan said, "Sir, what if no fruits are divided among no people? How will anyone get 1?"
Don't miss this one!
Author: Geeta Dharmarajan
Illustrator: Wen Hsu
Age group: 3 to 5 years
The king wants his favorite elephant weighed! No one in the kingdom knows what to do except little Lilavati.
Lilavati is the daughter of the mathematician Bhaskaracharya who named his mathematical treatise after her.
The book is a great introduction to Lilavati and the concept of the Archimedes principle. This book was part of our December 2016 Toka Explorer Boxes.
Author: Padma Venkatraman
Illustrator: Proiti Roy
Age group: 9+ years
Fourteen folktales, anecdotes, and popular stories from around the world catapult mathematics to a fun sphere!
There are explanations too, all very accessible and fascinating.
Author: Sandhya Acharya
Illustrator: Vanessa Alexandre
Age group: 3 to 5 years
Two brothers, Idu and Adu are very excited. Guests are coming over for dinner and their Mamma has already cooked a lot. Next, she is cooking Gulab Jamuns, but Idu and Adu do not know what Gulab Jamuns are. Before long, they discover just how good these wonderful golden, sugary syrup-soaked balls are and how quickly they melt in their mouths. But Mamma has only made 10 Gulab Jamuns. Will they last until their guests come?
This light-hearted, humorous story will warm your heart and tantalize your taste buds. It also includes some basic lessons in counting and an easy recipe to make those delicious Gulab Jamuns yourself.
Author: Geeta Dharmarajan
Illustrator: Rajiv Eipe
Age group: 3 to 5 years
A one-of-a-kind Dino loves taking children out for a ride!
But then he bumps into a strange problem.
What follows next is sure to leave you rollicking. This is a must-have for all kids and especially for little dino freaks!
Author: Shobha Vishwanath
Illustrator: Ashwathy P.S. and Anusha Sundar
Age group: 0-2 years
Shobha Viswanath combines counting skills with the art of storytelling to create a timeless board book for early readers. With a combination of collages, photography, and design, the duo stunningly captures a rainy day.
Author: David Birch
Illustrator: Devis Grebu
Age group: 6-8 years
A story set in ancient India. A wise man refuses a King's reward, when the King insists on a reward, the wise man asks for a grain of rice for each square on the King's chessboard, doubling the amount he receives each day. Will all the rice in the King's granary suffice?
Author: Shobha Viswanath
Illustrator: Ashwathy P.S. and Anusha Sundar
Age group: 3 to 5
Kids will love these big pages of clear bold numbers, simple sentences and lots of colors.
Each page helps exactly picture a rainy day, gradually from setting the stage with the appearance of a dark cloud, through final emergence of a dazzling rainbow.
Author: Anushka Ravishankar
Illustrator: Sirish Rao, Durga Bai
Age group: 3 to 5 years
The book is a tale of the numerous animals that are clambering up a tree! The book is essentially a number book, but gives its readers much, much more.
It is a picture book and a nursery rhyme book too. The illustrations, which are from the Gond tribal tradition of central India are very attractive.The lovely rhyme used to count the animals – makes counting so much more fun!
Author: Pridhee
Illustrator: Alicia Souza
Age group: 0 to 2
Help your children learn numbers 1-10 in Hindi in a fun way! Based on the old Hindi rhyme "Ek Tha Raja Ka Beta", this is an interactive board book with lift the flaps and pull tabs that will keep the children captivated.
Author: Lubaina Bandukwala with Vineeta Kanoria
Age group: 6 to 8 years
How much? How many? How far? How small? Math helps to make sense of the world around us. This book is filled with stories that cleverly contain everyday math problems for parents and children to solve together. Parents will love to watch a child open up their minds and think for themselves. Children will find the stories completely relatable and fun to read. And as they work their way through the book from easy to less easy in that special circle of parent-child sharing, they will grow in self-confidence as well as in number proficiency.
Author: Amritha Jagannath Knight
Illustrator: Sandhya Prabhat
Age group: 3 to 5 years
When sisters Usha and Aarti look up at the stars, they see different things. Aarti sees the Big Dipper, but Usha sees the Big DIGGER. And cousin Gloria sees the Big Kite! Could they all be right? A playful introduction to geometry and spatial relationships, featuring Indian American characters and a note about cultures and constellations.
Storytelling Math celebrates children using math in their daily adventures as they play, build, and discover the world around them. Joyful stories and hands-on activities make it easy for kids and their grown-ups to explore everyday math together. Developed in collaboration with math experts at STEM education nonprofit TERC, under a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation.
Celebrate diversity, math, and the power of storytelling with the Storytelling Math series!
