10 GULAB JAMUNS
Author: Sandhya Acharya
Illustrator: Vanessa Alexandre
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Number of pages: 24
Publisher: Mascot Books (USA) First published in: 2017 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes Is this story part of a mathematics story series? No Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, IND, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
Join two adorable brothers in a fun-filled adventure and discover a tasty sweet from India! Idu (Ee-doo) and Adu (Aa-doo) are very excited. Guests are coming over for dinner and their Mamma has already cooked a lot. Next, she is cooking Gulab Jamuns, but Idu and Adu don't know what Gulab Jamuns are. Before long, they discover just how good these wonderful golden, sugary syrup-soaked balls are and how quickly they melt in their mouths. But Mamma has only made 10 Gulab Jamuns. Will they last until their guests come? This light-hearted, humorous story will warm your heart and tantalize your tastebuds. It also includes some basic lessons in counting and an easy recipe to make those delicious Gulab Jamuns yourself. |
“Mamma laughed. She wiped their sticky hands and faces. "I made 10 Gulab Jamuns this morning. Adu ate three and Idu ate three. How many Gulab Jamuns do we have left in the bowl?" Aud counted "1, 2, 3, 4. 4 Gulab Jamuns.”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Sandhya Acharya’s ’10 Gulab Jamuns’ (2017) is a story about two young Indian brothers – Idu and Adu – who cannot resist the temptations of the ten Gulab Jamuns, a traditional Indian sugary syrup-soaked deep-fried round doughy sweets that their mother has prepared for their guests who are coming later that evening. Adu, the younger sibling, gives in and eats some Gulab Jamuns. When their mother returns to the kitchen and see fewer Gulab Jamuns in the bowl, she asks Idu what happened. Idu answers by demonstrating how Adu has eaten the sweets, and in the process, he too eats the sweets. Throughout the story, very young readers get to learn about subtraction, and about food in a culture that they themselves may or may not already be familiar with. There are several follow-up mathematical activities that teachers and parents can do with their children once they have read the story, for example, the children could be provided with a certain number of sweets (e.g., playdough, Unifix cubes) to begin with, and other children could decide how many they want to take, and the class then need to help work out how many sweets are left. Better still, as the author includes the list of ingredients and cooking instruction at the back of the book, this is something we can easily see parents and children do together at home (may be not so much the very hot deep frying part!). As always, when cooking involved, children also get to pay attention to all types of measurements (amount of ingredients and cooking time, etc.). The page illustrations by Vanessa Alexandre make the food items on the page look very delicious, and are useful to help very young readers keep track of how many Gulab Jamuns are left in the bowl. All in all, we highly recommend ‘10 Gulab Jamuns’ to either introduce or reinforce the concept of subtraction to children, aged 4+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author.)
Recommended age range:
4+ years old
Relevant topics:
Addition & Subtraction; Counting Forwards To and Backwards From 10/20
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.
Sandhya Acharya’s ’10 Gulab Jamuns’ (2017) is a story about two young Indian brothers – Idu and Adu – who cannot resist the temptations of the ten Gulab Jamuns, a traditional Indian sugary syrup-soaked deep-fried round doughy sweets that their mother has prepared for their guests who are coming later that evening. Adu, the younger sibling, gives in and eats some Gulab Jamuns. When their mother returns to the kitchen and see fewer Gulab Jamuns in the bowl, she asks Idu what happened. Idu answers by demonstrating how Adu has eaten the sweets, and in the process, he too eats the sweets. Throughout the story, very young readers get to learn about subtraction, and about food in a culture that they themselves may or may not already be familiar with. There are several follow-up mathematical activities that teachers and parents can do with their children once they have read the story, for example, the children could be provided with a certain number of sweets (e.g., playdough, Unifix cubes) to begin with, and other children could decide how many they want to take, and the class then need to help work out how many sweets are left. Better still, as the author includes the list of ingredients and cooking instruction at the back of the book, this is something we can easily see parents and children do together at home (may be not so much the very hot deep frying part!). As always, when cooking involved, children also get to pay attention to all types of measurements (amount of ingredients and cooking time, etc.). The page illustrations by Vanessa Alexandre make the food items on the page look very delicious, and are useful to help very young readers keep track of how many Gulab Jamuns are left in the bowl. All in all, we highly recommend ‘10 Gulab Jamuns’ to either introduce or reinforce the concept of subtraction to children, aged 4+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author.)
Recommended age range:
4+ years old
Relevant topics:
Addition & Subtraction; Counting Forwards To and Backwards From 10/20
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.
