HOPKINS COLLECTION
Marvelous Math
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems. Illustrated by Karen
Barbour. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2001.
ISBN: 978-068984442-3
ISBN: 978-068984442-3
Hopkins is responsible for creating
over one hundred anthologies of poetry for children. Most are focused on a single topic and Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems is no exception. Most of the poems selected for this anthology
have a distinct rhyming pattern, but Hopkins has sprinkled the pages with some
free verse poetry and haikus. The poems,
written by fourteen different authors as well as Bennett himself, easily show
the reader math in their every day life.
Fractions, multiplication, division…it is all covered in this
collection. The table of contents makes
it easy to find a poem by a particular poet, which is helpful for readers. Some poets are immediately recognizable –
David McCord, Karla Kuskin, and Lee Bennett Hopkins – while others are not as
well known.
With each poem having
its own page, sometimes two pages, the poems are easy to read. The illustrations Barbour created for this
anthology are vibrantly colored, simple depictions of the topics in each poem
and completely fill the pages. She
depicts people of several different nationalities and includes many different
fanciful animals. The illustrations feel
happy.
from
TAKE A NUMBER
By Mary O’Neill
Imagine a world
Without mathematics:
No rulers or scales,
No inches or feet,
No dates or numbers
On house or street,
No prices or weights,
No determining
heights,
No hours running
through
Days and nights.
No zero, no birthdays,
No way to subtract
All the guesswork
Surrounding the fact.
No sizes for shoes,
Or suit or hat. . . .
Wouldn’t it be awful
To live like that?
Before
reading the poem:
Ask students how we use math in our everyday life.
Ask students how we use math in our everyday life.
Display the
poem so they can follow while the poem is read to them.
Allow
student to randomly read along on the second and third readings.
Follow-up:
Follow-up:
Have students write their own poem: Imagine a world with no _________.
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