Count on Us: 16 Inspiring Math Books for Kids

Here’s a book that’s dense with information and facts about four-sided shapes. It doesn’t follow a particular narrative, but it encourages exploration of the kinds of shapes kids will come across in their environment. It includes various kinds of hands-on experiments about quadrilaterals. For example, clipping the corner from a standard envelope results in a little gizmo that can test whether the object inserted contains a right angle. For thorough examinations of other geometrical figures, David A. Adler has also written about Circles and Triangles.

Islamic art and architecture is home to some of the most dazzling combinations of mathematics and aesthetics. And it doesn’t take a mathematician or an art historian to appreciate them; just check out this book! With a glossary in the back to define any unfamiliar terms, the book sends readers on a voyage around the Muslim world filled with beautiful shapes. This book would also pair nicely with learning about the Islamic Golden Age, during which many mathematical advancements were made — the words algebra and algorithm are derived from Arabic, after all.

If I had to choose only one book from this list to give to a kid in my life, this might be the one. It allows children to do mathematics in a really exciting way that mimics what mathematicians do. They discuss math with colleagues; they create arguments about their findings. This book, which seems simple on the surface — find the shape that doesn’t belong — creates rich scenarios with multiple possibilities for correct answers. The explanation is more important than the answer, which is how deep understanding of mathematical knowledge is demonstrated.

Even if you don’t know how to decode them, you probably know that binary numbers are integral to how everything electronic operates. Seven Golden Rings is a delightful story following a clever boy named Bhagat who is faced with a mathematical conundrum. He carries his entire family’s fortune on his quest to win his place at the Rajah’s court. His ingenious solution to how to efficiently spend that money also gives an early lesson in binary numbers.

Everybody seeking math books for kids should invest in the Storytelling Math series. Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi! is one entry in the series, introducing spatial concepts like volume and area in the tale of a Cherokee boy named Bo determining how to show off his traditional marbles for the Cherokee National Holiday. The book incorporates Cherokee words while it also demonstrates the kind of mathematical thinking kids can do in their own lives. Other entries in the series investigate concepts like division, estimation, measurement, and more.

It’s not just shapes that budding mathematicians can identify when they’re out and about in the world. Math at the Art Museum introduces more concepts like symmetry and patterns that have importance in both mathematics and art. This book could pair with a trip to a local art museum or with the creation of art that incorporates the mathematical concepts within. Books that pair creativity with math are great for combatting the stereotype that math is cold or rigid.

There’s a kind of question known as a Fermi problem, that asks for an impossible-to-know number but seeks an answer nonetheless. A classic is “How many piano tuners are there in Chicago?” These questions ask people to make a series of guesses using logic, estimation, and any prior knowledge to work out an answer. This book is basically Fermi problems for kids, with goofy questions taken seriously and broken into logical steps. So how many times do you think a kangaroo would have to jump to cross all of Australia? Read the book to find out the answer.

It’s quite simple to find picture books about counting and the simple arithmetic of addition and subtraction. It’s tougher to find multiplication embedded in a story. So here you go! This book shows a man who cares for his local wildlife by building birdhouses. But birds multiply, and he must do some calculations to figure out how to accommodate his burgeoning population. The expressive illustrations pair nicely with the math lesson.

There are plenty of picture book biographies about mathematicians out there, but they don’t always aim to explain the concepts the mathematicians worked on. But there’s nothing quite as intriguing as infinity. See how readily kids will call it up in an argument, inventing new numbers like “infinity plus one.” If you know such a kid, introduce them to how one mathematician thought about infinity with this book. And then see what kinds of numbers they throw out in their next argument!

Who says you have to stay in the classroom to do math? Math activity books for kids have taken us onto city streets, to the art museum, and now into nature. This book covers a variety of topics, including arithmetic, shapes, greater than/less than, patterns, time, and more. If you’re looking for books for teaching math, perhaps in a less formal setting like a summer camp or a scout troop, this book will surely have ideas for you.

For kids who are curious and fact-driven, this book is sure to satisfy. Engaging with topics including trigonometry, probability, and logic, kids will find brainteasers, games, and more. While the point of math isn’t always a neatly contained concept, the authors make their argument for what makes math essential for everyone. The book also dives into a little of the history of how mathematical knowledge has developed over time.

While getting the basics of arithmetic and geometry are key for math learners, enrichment can show the wider world of math and pique interests in a different way. So many of the topics covered in this book provide insight into topics kids may not learn about until much later, like fractals, Möbius strips, and graph theory. It also includes vital topics like the fractions. With tons of games and activities, this book is just the thing to shake things up at home or in the classroom.