LEVELS IN THE LIBRARY
Author: The Purdue University Science and Stories Collaborative
Illustrator: Kristina Tartara
Number of pages: 31
Publisher: David J. Purpura (USA) First published in: 2020 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes Is this story part of a mathematics story series? Yes (The Pattern Pals) Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, IND, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
Clara shows Zoe all the different things they can do in the library, but Zoe is having a hard time being quiet! Through a series of bumps and tumbles with books and blocks, they explore and build growing patterns. Not only is it a funny story about making mistakes and being yourself, but the book has been designed to help young children learn about growing patterns. It shows that similar increases or decreases across sets of images or objects can be patterns. |
“Let's choose a cake!" squawked Zoe. "This one has the birthday girl's favorite colors. Purple, green, purple, green!" [...] Zoe turned to the streamers. "Um ... look! Purple, green, purple, green! Same as the cake! Let's add more!”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
‘Levels in the Library’ (2020) is the third book in a series of mathematical story picture books, called the Pattern Pals. Written by the Purdue University Science and Stories Collaborative, the series describes itself as “researched-based picture books to build early pattern skills”. The story follows Zoe the Parrot on her first library visit. Zoe soon finds herself having to rely on her knowledge of growing patterns to restack the books that she knocks over from a book shelf. When Zoe and Clara build buildings using building blocks, they find themselves using their knowledge of growing patterns again to work out the height of the next building in the pattern. Despite the very simple storyline, ‘Levels in the Library’ provides a rather useful context for very young children to start exploring the concept of growing patterns, which of course, is the basis for more advanced concepts, such as algebra and exponential growth. Just like the other titles in the series, the book contains three suggested questions on each page for parents (and teachers) to ask their children. The questions in red colour are for the first reading; the questions in blue are for the second reading; and the ones in purple are for the third reading. These suggested questions can be really useful for parents who are new to the idea of reading their children a mathematical story and thus unsure what questions relating to the story they can ask to foster their children’s mathematical thinking (e.g., “If they wanted a taller staircase, how many cushions would be in the next stack?”). The book does a wonderful job in extending very young children’s thinking about patterns beyond just recognising repeating patterns. The page illustrations by Kristina Tartara help young readers to clearly see the growing patterns found in the story. Overall, ‘Levels in the Library’ is a fantastic book to help either introduce or reinforce the concept of growing patterns to children aged 5+ years old. (If you like this book, you might also be interested in the other titles from the same series: ‘Birthday Beeps and Boops’ and ‘Sleepover Similarities’.) (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author.)
Recommended age range:
5+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Patterns; Number Sequences
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.
‘Levels in the Library’ (2020) is the third book in a series of mathematical story picture books, called the Pattern Pals. Written by the Purdue University Science and Stories Collaborative, the series describes itself as “researched-based picture books to build early pattern skills”. The story follows Zoe the Parrot on her first library visit. Zoe soon finds herself having to rely on her knowledge of growing patterns to restack the books that she knocks over from a book shelf. When Zoe and Clara build buildings using building blocks, they find themselves using their knowledge of growing patterns again to work out the height of the next building in the pattern. Despite the very simple storyline, ‘Levels in the Library’ provides a rather useful context for very young children to start exploring the concept of growing patterns, which of course, is the basis for more advanced concepts, such as algebra and exponential growth. Just like the other titles in the series, the book contains three suggested questions on each page for parents (and teachers) to ask their children. The questions in red colour are for the first reading; the questions in blue are for the second reading; and the ones in purple are for the third reading. These suggested questions can be really useful for parents who are new to the idea of reading their children a mathematical story and thus unsure what questions relating to the story they can ask to foster their children’s mathematical thinking (e.g., “If they wanted a taller staircase, how many cushions would be in the next stack?”). The book does a wonderful job in extending very young children’s thinking about patterns beyond just recognising repeating patterns. The page illustrations by Kristina Tartara help young readers to clearly see the growing patterns found in the story. Overall, ‘Levels in the Library’ is a fantastic book to help either introduce or reinforce the concept of growing patterns to children aged 5+ years old. (If you like this book, you might also be interested in the other titles from the same series: ‘Birthday Beeps and Boops’ and ‘Sleepover Similarities’.) (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author.)
Recommended age range:
5+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Patterns; Number Sequences
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.