Mathtime Stories
You may be able to appreciate the fact that I kind of have to ask permission to go into a Half Price Books—my wife knows that I don’t know how to just window shop in that store. Among the novels, CDs, software, coffee table books, games, movies, odds and ends that I dig through for must-have treasures, there is a particular section which provides significant temptation for me: the math section.
Don’t stop reading! I already put “math” in the title, so you’ve been willing to come this far. I really do buy all that other stuff I mentioned, too (in fact, I have a USB record player from there just to play the vinyl I buy there).
I’ve transferred a good half dozen complete shelf-lengths from the math section at HPB into my collection since the store moved into my neighborhood a decade ago or so. Most of those books are not textbooks; My collection includes works of fiction, histories, biographies and treatises, and ranges from (the occasional) arcane and technical to the (more representative) interesting and widely accessible.
That’s a lot of introduction to tell you that I have a couple of books to suggest to you if you have someone you’d like to offer some engaging reading that has a mathematical bent. Especially if that person is slightly disinclined to enjoy maths. These two titles may play a role in bringing them back into the fold.
The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger is a fun little novel about a boy named Robert so bedeviled by maths that he can’t even escape them in his dreams. Over the course of a week and a half, the Number Devil walks him through a multitude of concepts in such an organic and engaging way that Robert finishes out the story not only believing he can do well in mathematics, but actually craving mathematical pursuits. The book is listed as suitable for 4th-8th graders, but I enjoyed it as an adult and believe the reading is likely accessible to younger readers with the patience for novels. For parents concerned about influences, the “devilishness” of the title character feels much more Grimm’s Fairy Tale than Judeo-Christian, and the concept of evil is not really addressed. I’d have read this story to my kids when they were learning math facts at 5-7 years old if I’d found the book that long ago.
The Code (Spy X #1) by Peter Lerangis is the first of four short novels (rated age 9-12, but again…) about a twins Andrew and Evie, whose mother mysteriously disappears. The treatment of the hints that lead them to reunion packs a legitimate primer for the world of code making and breaking without sacrificing storytelling. I pick up a spare copy of book one every time I find it, and I routinely give them away to inquisitive young readers. Give it a shot!
One last note: I’ve mentioned that I have enjoyed these books as an adult. I encourage you to try one or both out yourself—they make for a quick, light read, and you may find out that you like math more than you thought!