LUNA'S YUM YUM DIM SUM
Author: Natasha Yim
Illustrator: Violet Kim
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Number of pages: 28
Publisher: Charlesbridge (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 (Storytelling Math) Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, IND, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
On Luna's birthday, the whole family goes out for Chinese dim sum--but Luna and her brothers can't agree on how to share their pork buns fairly. How can three people divide up five buns? Should some siblings get more than others? Or should they cut the buns into smaller and smaller pieces so everyone gets the same amount? The Storytelling Math series shows that all children can be mathematical thinkers. Each book includes ideas for exploring math at home with your children and was developed in collaboration with math experts at STEM education nonprofit TERC Inc., under a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation. |
“Luis has 1, 2, 3, ... 98, 99, 100 biscuits. A hundred is way more than two. Luis wins. No doubt. Lia is still not convinced. After all, one biscuit is much smaller and lighter than a croquette.”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Natasha Yim’s ‘Luna’s Yum Yum Dum Sum’ (2020) is a part of Charlesbridge’s Storytelling Math series which promotes diversity (e.g., gender and ethnicity) in mathematical stories. The light-hearted story follows Luna and her two brothers (Kai and Benji) as they celebrate Luna’s birthday at a Chinese restaurant. There are six pork buns for the three of them to share. They began by taking a bun each, but Luna accidentally dropped her first bun. As she only has one bun left, she makes a plea to her brothers to share their remaining buns with her, but how can three people share only two buns? There are so many follow-up activities that teachers and parents can do with their children once they have read the story, for example, a small group of children could be given an even number of biscuits or playdough to share equally among them to begin with, and then change the quantity to an odd number and invite them to come up with ideas on how to share them equally and fairly. Like the other titles in the series, there are also a few activity ideas given at the back of the book. The page illustrations by Violet Kim are visually pleasing and help young readers to clearly visualise the mathematical concepts behind the story. We like that the story is told and illustrated by an author and an illustrator who share the same cultural heritage as the characters in the story. All in all, we highly recommend ‘Luna’s Yum Yum Dum Sum’ to either introduce (or reinforce) the concept of division to children, aged 5+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author.)
Recommended age range:
5+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Division
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.
Natasha Yim’s ‘Luna’s Yum Yum Dum Sum’ (2020) is a part of Charlesbridge’s Storytelling Math series which promotes diversity (e.g., gender and ethnicity) in mathematical stories. The light-hearted story follows Luna and her two brothers (Kai and Benji) as they celebrate Luna’s birthday at a Chinese restaurant. There are six pork buns for the three of them to share. They began by taking a bun each, but Luna accidentally dropped her first bun. As she only has one bun left, she makes a plea to her brothers to share their remaining buns with her, but how can three people share only two buns? There are so many follow-up activities that teachers and parents can do with their children once they have read the story, for example, a small group of children could be given an even number of biscuits or playdough to share equally among them to begin with, and then change the quantity to an odd number and invite them to come up with ideas on how to share them equally and fairly. Like the other titles in the series, there are also a few activity ideas given at the back of the book. The page illustrations by Violet Kim are visually pleasing and help young readers to clearly visualise the mathematical concepts behind the story. We like that the story is told and illustrated by an author and an illustrator who share the same cultural heritage as the characters in the story. All in all, we highly recommend ‘Luna’s Yum Yum Dum Sum’ to either introduce (or reinforce) the concept of division to children, aged 5+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author.)
Recommended age range:
5+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Division
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.
