Customer Reviews

The Grapes of Math

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a collection of 16 illustrated poems. In the back are the complete solutions. Most of the riddles deal with the repeated addition style of multiplication, but with a twist. In an array of five rows and five columns, there may be three missing. So, in order to find the total of 22 quickly, the student is guided to multiply five times five and then subtract the three missing ones.

The rhymes are catchy with the question in a different color font to help students when learning to decipher word problems. There is also a tip to the mental math solution following the question. The goal of this book is assisting students in learning to manipulate groups of objects in their mind.

I would suggest using a few poems as examples with real manipulatives and demonstrating to students how and why the solution can be found mentally. Read the solution along with them and physically move objects to show how they can multiply and then add or subtract, or even regroup objects. When students begin to catch on, invite them to try some more from the book, and write out the solutions before checking their answers. Advanced students may even want to create their own puzzles and illustrations. As an extra challenge, they can write the poems to go along with it. All of Tang's poems are written in couplets and this has the potential for being a good integration with language arts.

Why 5 stars?:
Tang has crafted a wonderful set of thinking exercises for students to explore mathematical properties through the use of patterns. By practicing with these poems, hopefully they will change the way in which they "see" difficult problems and be able to visualize in a way that makes sense to them.

I am currently a student at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona. I read this book to a third grade student and she loved it! The Grapes of Math has wonderful bright colored pictures that are great for kids as well as rhyming which is fun for them. Each page in the book gives different math problems dealing with animals, food, and everyday objects that make it easier for kids to relate to. The book helps gives students hints on different ways of counting.Instead of counting items one by one, the book gives examples of how to group and pair items together. The pictures in the book helped my student to visualize the groupings and it made it much easier for her to figure out the problems in the book. What is also great about this book is that at the end of the book, the author gave the answers to the math problems in the book and ways to explain how to do them. I reccommed this book for elementary age students.

This is a great book! The illustrations are eye-catching and vibrant! The rhyming riddles are very clever! Together, the great illustrations and poetic riddles make for a very interesting and fun math book! It is a great book for introducing multiplication to children or for practicing the multiplication skills they already have. It also encourages children to "stretch" their minds and try a whole new approach to problem solving. Rather than counting objects one-by-one, the book urges children to look for patterns and count by easy to handle groups. There are even clearly explained answers in the back, in case you have a hard time figuring it out on your own.

I read this book to a third-grader, who struggles in math and is just being introduced to multiplication. For the first couple of riddles he kept trying to count one-by-one and the answers in the back were helpful in showing him a different approach. After awhile he started finding patterns on his own. Once he realized he was "getting the hang of it," his face lit up, he got really excited, and wanted to try some more riddles. By the end of the book he was approaching problem solving in a whole new way and he was really proud of himself!

I highly recommend this book!

The Grapes of Math targets elementary students around the ages of 8-12, yet can be used in a simpler way with even younger children as an introduction to counting. There are sixteen colorful counting problems in the book, which are accompanied by a poem that provides a hint at counting the objects using a different method. Children are instructed not to count individual objects in the regular manner - "1...2...3..." - but rather to open their minds to new ways of perceiving the problems. Readers are encouraged to use creative methods, such as finding patterns, grouping, and using advanced problem-solving skills. These strategies direct students to solve a problem faster and more efficiently, and greatly incorporate the use of addition, subtraction and multiplication.

A teacher could use The Grapes of Math in many ways. One could post a problem each day, or week, on the board for children to solve at the beginning of a math lesson, to get students thinking mathematically, and on a higher level. Instructors could also break a class into pairs or small groups and photocopy the sixteen different problems, passing out a different problem to each pair/group. The children could have an allotted amount of time in which to come up with creative ways to count the objects on the page. After the pair/group has found several ways, they could vote on the most efficient method. Then the students could take turns sharing their solutions with the class. Furthermore, a teacher could share the book with his/her class, taking suggestions for the various problems and solving as a whole-class group. As a follow-up activity, children could design their own "counting problems," making colorful pictures with accompanying poetry to give their readers hints - such as the layout of The Grapes of Math. Then the children could trade with a partner and solve their partners' work.

I would highly recommend The Grapes of Math to future teachers. There are so many ways to implement this book, and it helps children who are learning multiplication a great deal. I enjoy the pictures, the poems, the creative solutions, and the challenges! I whole-heartedly rate this 5 STARS!

This is a great book! The illustrations are vibrant, eye-catching, and really appealing! The rhyming riddles are clever and challenging! The poetic wording of the riddles and the great illustrations make this math book fun and interesting. This book truly is the "mind-stretching" book it claims to be. It does a great job of getting kids to open their minds and approach problem solving in a whole new way. They are encouraged to move beyond simply counting one-by-one and try finding patterns to count by. It is useful for introducing the concept of multiplication to them or for them to practice multiplication skills they already have.

I read this book to a third grader, who is just being introduced to multiplication. At first, he had a hard time with the riddles, wanted to count one-by-one, and didn't understand how tolook for patterns. Going over the solutions in the back helped him understand how he could have approached the riddle. After awhile, he started approaching the riddles differently and stopped trying to count everything one-by-one. When he finally got the hang of it, he was really excited. His face lit up in a big smile and he couldn't wait to try more riddles. By the end of the book he really was approaching problem solving in a new way. This was quite an accomplishment for a kid who struggles with math!

I highly recommend this book!

The grapes of math is a challenging book full of problem solveing.It was great to read and after i read it once i read it again and again,i liked the fish problem the best.

good luck reading it!

~sally

I sought out this book hoping to find material for my fifth grade classroom. I found the book to be better suited for grades 2-4. My students would probably have been interested in the puzzles, but I found it to be just that, a fun book for my students, not a book that I could really build a lesson around. I suppose I could have discussed different strategies for looking at problems, but that would have been about it. If you are looking for lesson material try checking out something by Theoni Pappas instead!

I sought out this book hoping to find material for my fifth grade classroom. I found the book to be better suited for grades 2-4. My students would probably have been interested in the puzzles, but I found it to be just that, a fun book for my students, not a book that I could really build a lesson around. I suppose I could have discussed different strategies for looking at problems, but that would have been about it. If you are looking for lesson material try checking out something by Theoni Pappas instead!

Greg Tang has put together a series of counting riddles which challenge you to find short cuts to a faster answer. Each problem provides the introduction to a new challenge. The riddles are written in verse and encourage you to develop your skills in patern recognition, grouping, and multi-step thinking. The book will be as much fun for parents as for youngsters, and can provide the basis for spotting interesting problems in the world around you. Clever rhymes, hints, and colorful illustrations combine to provide plenty of visual and mental stimulation. The riddles focus on natural objects like animals, insects, plants, and fruit to increase awareness of the patterns occuring around us.

The riddles have fun names (like Fish School, Grapes of Math, Win-Doze, and For the Birds). My favorite riddles were Ant Attack and It's a Jungle Out There.

The left hand page contains a colorful computer illustration provided by Harry Briggs. These are large and appropriately ambiguous to hide the patterns a little. Color and shape are especially used well to complicate the counting problem. On the right hand page is a riddle, containing a clue at the end. "To help you find the right amount/Group by fives before you count" is one such clue. At the back of the book are the solutions to each riddle.

Pattern recognition riddles help you to see squares and rectangles within more complex designs. You are also encouraged to see diamonds as being squares rotated by 45 degrees. Many times a pattern is repeated, and that becomes the basis of multiplication.

Grouping encourages you to add common sums. An example would be sets of (8 + 3) + (6 + 5) + (4 + 7) = 33. By seeing that you can add to common subnumbers, you quickly find three elevens and then multiply by 3 in your head.

The two-step riddles have you determine what the total universe is (usually by multiplying) and then subtracting the exceptions to get the subset. One example has a building with regular intervals of windows, some lit and some not. How many are lit?

Most people never get to do the fun part of math, which is thinking up new and better ways to do things that build on imagination. By allowing your child to see the potential playfulness of what mathematicians do, this book will help create a better sense of what math is all about and that it can be fun.

After you have had a good time with the book, I suggest that you and your child create new puzzles for each other.

Build new knowledge from repeated patterns, wherever you find them!

Greg Tang and Harry Briggs have taken the stuffiness and boredom out of math with their very creative and inventive book, The Grapes of Math: Mind Stretching Math Riddles. Word problems, told in rhyme with hints to help with solutions, combined with detailed, vibrant illustrations, challenge youngsters to look at old counting problems in new ways. Instead of formulas and memorization, Tang and Briggs show kids to think in innovative ways. Techniques include looking for patterns, regrouping numbers, combining multiples and subtracting first, in order to add. With an answer key and easy to understand, common sense explanations at the end of the book, kids 6-10 won't even know they're solving math problems. They'll think they're just having FUN!