by Marilyn Burns
ISBN: 0316117412
My kids loved the title of this book. They knew right off the bat that this was their kinda book! My son, age 10, loved trying to fool me with the wonderful way that this book asks math questions. My son picked up the book and only put it down long enough to pick up Math for Smarty Pants--another book by Marilyn Burns.
This fall I added it to the regular curriculum--mostly since it's too hard for my daughter to read, but it's not too hard for her to understand. So I read it aloud, and we do the stuff together. What's neat is that the kids forget that it's school and don't want to quit. They often come up with more ideas and activities which I enjoy watching--a home schooling perk for me.
Some will say that the title is a big turnoff. That's understandable, but the book is appealing to children that already dislike Mathematics a bit (or a lot). The book's purpose is to help students see that Mathematics can be fun. There's even a chapter entitled "Maybe Grownups Aren't as Smart as You Think." They have a few tricks to play on some adults to see if the adults know the answers. And these aren't all that easy either.
There's also a section called "A Mathe-magic Show." And one of these tricks was described on a the Disney Channel last week. This trick involves topology which is a part of mathematics. Of course, you could have fooled me, but the trick is neat. It even intrigued my husband. What I did was make a rubberband jump from being around two of my fingers to being around two different fingers. It was cool. Here's what some of the other sections are called: Street Math, Things to Do When You Have the Flu, How to Always Be a Winner, and The Art of Probably. With 120 pages, your child will get lots of math tricks to try.
The reading level is fifth grade, and I think that it could be interesting for even a seventh grader. And I'll admit that I find it fun. It stretches my mind in ways it usually doesn't get stretched. It's been a great book for us to use for a break from everyday workbook sheets. If you haven't read Cafi Cohen's articles on her webpage, please consider it. She says that it's good to expose our children to more than just textbook mathematics in her article entitled, "RETHINKING MIDSCHOOL/HIGH SCHOOL MATH." (no longer online) And I think that The I Hate Mathematics! Book is a great book for helping my kids to think mathematically and love math.
Buy it discounted at Amazon.com!