WHAT IS MATH?

Another collaboration by Dotlich and Yoshikawa brings a school subject to life.

As in 2006’s What Is Science? jaunty rhymes introduce readers to many different answers to the titular question, the illustrations showing an array of children, diverse in terms of race and ability, exploring their world, attending school, and interacting with friends. By Dotlich’s account, math encompasses: ages, counting, money, addition and subtraction, the calendar, time, matching, weighing, baking, patterns, building a house, height, distances, selling, sorting, comparing, number stories, shapes, multiplication, and charts and graphs. But whereas the science topics were easy to discern (dinosaur fossils versus stars), children may have more trouble picking out the things listed in the rhymes in the illustrations. For instance, “It’s a matching game, / it’s a blastoff chart. / It’s a block of days. / It’s a whole, it’s a part.” The busy classroom scene shows a birthday pizza party in progress. Only diligent eyes will pick up on the bingo game that a few kids are playing, the two students measuring height against a wall, and the chart that shows the weekly schedule, all backgrounded by the giant pizza that’s front and center. Still, this is a great way to show even the math-averse or math-phobic the many ways that math is hiding in their everyday lives. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A solid definition of math that shows its ubiquity.