Math-terpieces Reviews

Amazon.com
5 Star Rating
"Bravo, Greg Tang has done it once again! This wonderful book is full of authentic masterpieces which Tang recreates to get us looking at the art in a "math kind of way!" This book is super for all elementary levels, kindergarten through grade five. The focus is on addition, and the many ways we can group numbers to get to a given sum. We love it!"
-- Tracy Glick Manousaridis, Southborough, MA

Barnes & Noble
Featured Picture Book
"Math wizard Greg Tang presents an artfully awesome method for learning addition in this colorful picture book illustrated by Greg Paprocki. From Impressionism to Pop Art, Tang combines classic pieces of fine art with arithmetic to teach kids that grouping objects together means adding faster and easier. In "April Showers," Renoir's painting The Umbrellas provides the visual eye-candy -- along with Paprocki's groups of umbrellas in Renoir's style -- as the author challenges kids to "group UMBRELLAS to make 9, FIVE clever ways would be quite fine." Similarly, "Square Deal" features Piet Mondrian and tells readers that "7's made from SQUARES are great, the different groupings number EIGHT," while Jackson Pollock's Lavender Mist shows children that "you may find beauty of a different kind" as "9's are made with all these SPATTERS, finding SEVEN is what matters!" As usual, Tang also provides an introductory note about the purpose of book along with an answer key in back. Another Tang math book that brings pizzazz to problems, Math-terpieces will have kids and parents adding like masters! This art/math lesson is bright and simple to absorb, exposing readers to new ways of seeing and thinking. It will certainly help make those homework assignments a breeze."
-- Matt Warner

Booklist
"Tang challenges children to take a playful approach to learning math, using elements from famous paintings by artists such as Matisse, Mondrian, and Warhol. For instance, one double-page spread has a reproduction of Dali's painting The Persistence of Memory and the verse, "Is it a dream or is it real? / It's hard to know when art's surreal. / Dali's clocks once so precise - / now they're melting just like ice. / Find SEVEN ways to make an 8 / group the CLOCKS, it's getting late!" Paprocki's more colorful versions of melting clocks are grouped on the facing page, and the groups can be combined in seven different ways that add up to eight clocks. Children drawn to the gamelike element will undoubtedly become more familiar with the paintings, though the main point is combining the sets of objects. This book provides an attractive setting for that activity."
-- Carolyn Phelan

Book Sense 76
Autumn 2003 Selection
"Experience the artwork of 12 great masters while solving math problems. Tang has once again made math fun by combining it with an artist familiar to most children. Each work is accompanied by a poem challenging the reader to group representative objects on the opposite page. An entertaining extension to a math curriculum."
--Julie Gaston, Butterfly Books, De Pere, WI

Kirkus Reviews
"The author of several other highly praised math books has another winner in this combination of math and art history. Each two-page spread contains the reproduction of a famous painting identified by artist and date, a series of rhymed couplets describing the painting and proposing a problem, and a series of objects from the painting that are to be grouped and counted in various ways. A Monet water lily painting is accompanied by several groups of water lilies, and instructions to "Try grouping Lilies to make 8 / Four smart ways would be just great!" Dali's Persistence of Memory is accompanied by a verse entitled, "Time Warp" which includes these lines, "Is it a dream or is it real? / It's hard to know when art's surreal." Attractive and intriguing."

PBS TeacherSource
Recommended
Tang's stated mission is to make math and problem solving a part of every child's life. His approach is always fun. In his latest book he uses elements from familiar paintings instead of numberals to teach addition and problem solving strategies. The book features the work of twelve artists from Degas to Warhol. Paprocki uses color and design to group objects from each painting like umbrellas, fish, or eyes. A solution section describes approaches to each set of problems. Art notes provide descriptions of the nine art movements represented.

Publisher's Weekly
Greg Tang presents the fifth book in the series begun with The Grapes of Math, Math-terpieces, illus. by Greg Paprocki. Under a reproduction of a well-known painting, a rhyming text gives information about the artist and poses a mathematical challenge to group objects in various ways; for example, "April Showers" features a Renoir painting titled The Umbrellas, and asks readers to group different numbers of umbrellas to make nine. Kids can bone up on their addition skills while getting an introduction to art history.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information

School Library Journal
August 2003
Gr 1-5-In his fifth visual math adventure, Tang uses the artwork of 12 famous painters as an aid in developing problem-solving skills through grouping. Each spread features a quality reproduction on the left side. The poem underneath it highlights an item in the picture and presents a math query. For example, on the spread titled "Dancing Shoes," illustrated with Edgar Degas's Ballet Rehearsal on Stage, readers are asked to combine the colorful pictures of varying numbers of ballet shoes on the opposite page into several groups of seven. ("Can you make 7 with these SHOES?/THREE clever ways earn rave reviews!") Clearly written solutions to these exercises are given at the end of the book along with art definitions and brief explanations. This math-concept book is far more appealing than most.
-- Nancy A. Gifford, Schenectady County Public Library, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information

Home | Bio | Books | Store | Gigs | E-mail | Kids | Teachers