Midwest Book Review

November 2002

"Math has never been so much fun. Except, of course, with author Greg Tang's two previous picture books that revolutionize the way children can learn math. As with "The Grapes of Math" and "Math For All Seasons", Tang makes numbers exciting by showing young learners how to think outside the box with mathematical word problems and picture puzzles. For "The Best of Times," he does the unthinkable by throwing standard memorization of the times tables out the window. Tang presents an alternative lesson for multiplication that's bold, playful, practical, extraordinarily effective and deceptively simple. Want to multiply by five, for instance? Don't memorize. Just multiply by 10 then divide in half. Even prime numbers can be simply conquered. For nine Tang writes: "Nine is faster to compute/ if at first you overshoot. / Here's a very clever tack/ do 10 times and then subtract! "What is 9 x 7? It's ten 7's minus 7." An illustrative example completes each lesson with vivid visuals providing a memorable step-by-step demonstration. It will take multiple readings to fully grasp the lessons and memorize the ten strategic couplets, but that beats flash cards hands down. Kids will quickly be able to answer Tang's challenge questions even on first reading, and will soon be able to compute huge figures in their heads. These lessons will last a lifetime by giving kids a concrete understanding of numbers that will help them truly understand the multiplication process, not simply remember numeric series. Tang has provided a truly revolutionary and valuable tool that deserves a place in every elementary math curriculum."

-- Vicki Arkoff

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