Teachers love using books across the curriculum to make connections in multiple subject areas. It is a great way to help students connect content and further their thinking. Here's a collection of picture books that focus on different math content. Enjoy!
Picture Books about Counting and Cardinality
1. 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo
Created with young learners in mind, this book is a great way to practice counting! Children will enjoy identifying the types of animals they find as they count them. While there are no words to read, this is perfect for students who are just developing number sense.
2. On the Launch Pad: A Counting Book About Rockets
Calling all future astronauts! This picture book uses beautiful paper-cut illustrations to help practice counting and searching for hidden numbers in the space-themed book! Include this fun book in your read alouds to practice counting and counting backward.
3. 100 Bugs: A Counting Book
This charming picture book helps students learn different ways to count to 10 by using different types of bugs to show ten groups. Through cute rhymes, the author helps young learners practice finding bugs to count. This is a great book to use as a read aloud and could be used in a variety of ways for number talks as well!
4. Operations and Algebraic Thinking
Marilyn Burns is a math educator who wrote this book, which incorporates early math skills into a charming storyline. Through her use of humor and storytelling, children can take a dinner party journey through mathematical events! Preschoolers through third graders will enjoy this tale!
5. If You Were a Plus Sign
Trisha Speed Shaskan lets children see the power of the plus sign through this Math Fun series! This easy read would be great to use with numbers talks or as a read aloud to introduce a unit about addition. The charming illustrations help keep children engaged! This book is best for 1st grade-4th grade.
6. Mystery Math: A First Book of Algebra
Another book from the amazing David Adler, Mystery Math, is a fun book that uses a mystery theme to get children thinking and using the basic operations. This book makes math for kids to be fun and engaging! For children in 1st grade-5th grade.
7. Math Potatoes: Mind Stretching Brain Food
The famous Greg Tang uses fun poetry as a way to engage young mathematicians in this book! The mathematically minded author helps connect disciplines of math to high-interest topics and poems in this book. It is one of many in a growing collection of math picture books by Greg Tang! Elementary-aged children will enjoy thinking of ways to group items and figure out sums!
8. The Action of Subtraction
If you are looking for books about subtraction, including this one for sure! Brian Cleary does a great job introducing the basic rules of subtraction through these catchy phrases and rhyming patterns. This is also a great resource for younger learners when teaching subtraction terminology!
9. Double Puppy Trouble
Moxie finds a magic stick and soon realizes it has the power to double everything! But it quickly gets out of hand and she has more than she bargained for and puppies everywhere. This book would be a great way to introduce and practice the concept of doubling numbers for first graders through 3rd graders.
10. A Remainder of One
In this creative book, we meet Private Joe and see how he follows the queen's orders for the ants to march in specific rows. In organizing this task, Joe helps young children learn about the concept of a remainder in division. Basic divisibility rules are introduced in kid-friendly terms and scenarios. The busy illustrations add meaning and help children visualize the concept!
11. Money Math: Addition and Subtraction
Books about money are a great way to learn how to identify, count, and even add money! David Adler, a math teacher and author, uses place value and basic operations to teach young learners the basics about money. It is geared toward younger elementary-aged students.
12. The Grapes of Math
This book offers a more hands-on approach to thinking through math problems. Greg Tang has written many books about math, and in this one, he helps students count by using methods like grouping to see the objects quickly. This book would be perfect for number talks in elementary school!
Picture Books about Numbers and Operations
13. Fractions in Disguise
Targeted for grades 2-5, this picture book takes students on an adventure with George, who loves fractions so much, he collects them! George has to figure out how to battle Dr. Brok and get a stolen fraction back for an auction. The engaging storyline helps students stay focused as they learn about fractions!
14. The Power of 10
The Power of 10 tells a fun story of a young basketball player and his quest to purchase a new basketball. Through the help of a superhero, he learns about the power of ten, place value, and decimal points. Written by math enthusiasts, this book is geared for grades 3-6.
15. Full House
This funny fraction book tells the story of an innkeeper who finds her guests sampling a cake in the middle of the night! It is full of interesting characters and is a great way to approach math in a real-life example by diving the cake. First graders through fourth graders will enjoy this story and introduction to math.
16. Place Value
The animal bakers in this David Adler picture book work to get their recipe just right! They need to know exactly how much of each ingredient to use to make it just right! This book uses silly humor to help teach the concept of place value for kindergarten through third grade.
17. Let’s Estimate: A Book About Estimating and Rounding Numbers
Written by a math teacher, this book about math takes a difficult concept and puts it in kid terms. It helps children distinguish between estimating and rounding by telling a story of dinosaurs who try to estimate how much pizza they will need at their party. While this book is geared towards 1st grade - 4th grade, all elementary school-aged children will enjoy it!
Picture Books about Measurement and Data
18. A Second, A Minute, A Week with Days in It
Rhyme helps create an engaging story for students to learn more about the math concept of time. Using short rhymes and fun characters, this book is a great approach to teaching students all about time and a fun way to teach kids about an important topic in everyday life. This book is best for kindergarten through second grade.
19. Perimeter, Area, and Volume: A Monster Book of Dimensions
Through delightful cartoon illustrations, David Adler and Ed Miller produce another of their wonderful books with math concepts. Playfully written to take kids on a trip to the movies, they help introduce the concepts of geometry and teach about perimeter, area, and volume.
20. The Great Graph Contest
Graphs of all kinds come to life in this adorable tale of a toad and lizard and how they organize data into graphs. This book would be a great read aloud during a unit about graphing or could be used with daily data! Included in the book are directions for how to make your own graphs and activity suggestions for children! This book is a great resource to use to make cross-curricular connections as well!
21. Equal Shmequal
Young readers can learn about balance in this adorable book about forest friends! As the animals play a game of tug-o-war, they learn more about weight and size. The detailed illustrations help paint a picture for children to use as they visualize the concept of keeping things equal!
Picture Books about Geometry
22. If You Were a Quadrilateral
Perfect for your next geometry unit, this fun book is packed with delightful illustrations that are ideal for children. Geared towards the ages of 7-9, this book focuses on how and where to find quadrilaterals in the real world. This book would be ideal for a read aloud or in conjunction with number talks!
23. Tangled: A Story About Shapes
When a circle gets stuck on the jungle gym at the playground, she awaits rescue from her other shape friends. Soon all the shapes are stuck! Through a sweet rhyming pattern, Anne Miranda tells a story but also introduces the basic concepts of geometric shapes to young learners. This book would be ideal to use as an introduction to a unit and follow up with a shape hunt to locate basic shapes in daily life!
24. A Trapezoid is Not a Dinosaur
When the shapes are put on a play, Trapezoid has a hard time finding his place. Soon, he realizes he is special too! This book is a great read aloud to use to teach young children about the attributes of shapes and how to identify them!
25. The Greedy Triangle
Young learners will further their enjoyment of math through this engaging story of a triangle that keeps adding angles to its shape. In the meantime, his shape continues to change. This Marilyn Burns classic is a great addition to kindergarten math lessons about shapes!
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