RUFFER’S BIRTHDAY PARTY
Author: Soon-jae Shin
Illustrator: Min-jung Kim
|
Number of pages: 36
Publisher: TanTan Publishing (USA) First published in: Unknown Translated into English in: 2015 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes Is this story part of a mathematics story series? Yes (TanTan Math Story) Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
Ruffer the puppy has never had a birthday party, and Nora is determined to make her best friend’s big day special! There’s a lot to do to get ready—and a few bumps along the way. But with effort and teamwork, Nora and Ruffer cook up a delicious celebration with all their friends! Elementary math concepts that relate to addition and subtraction expand this story about a pair of clever and resourceful friends. |
“Hmm ... which fruit is the least expensive? Ruffer subtracts the sale amounts from the original prices.”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Soon-jae Shin’s ‘Ruffer’s Birthday Party’ is part of the world’s largest mathematical story picture book series, called TanTan Math Story (70+ titles). The English translation of this original South Korean version was done in 2015. The story follows Nora and her pet puppy, Ruffer, in the days leading up to Ruffer’s birthday. There are so much for Nora to do including working out how many people (and their pets) to invite altogether; how many eggs to buy to make the birthday cake for Ruffer, and which discounted fruit to buy, etc. All of these everyday activities require Nora to use her addition and subtraction skills. Page illustrations are cute and useful in helping very young children to see the process of adding and taking away something. Like most titles in this series, the book comes with a few mathematical word problems relating to the story to be solved at the end of the story. Unfortunately, there is a mathematical error in the story: at one point, Nora needs to work out the total cost of buying three different items (i.e. ice cream $4, strawberries $5 and eggs $2), and the corresponding number sentence for this is ‘$4 + $5 = $9 + $2 = $11’. All in all, ‘Ruffer’s Birthday Party’ is a wonderful story to introduce the concept of addition and subtraction to children aged 4+ years old, though the aforementioned error must be addressed. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author)
Recommended age range:
5 years old +
Relevant mathematics topics:
Addition & Subtraction
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.
Soon-jae Shin’s ‘Ruffer’s Birthday Party’ is part of the world’s largest mathematical story picture book series, called TanTan Math Story (70+ titles). The English translation of this original South Korean version was done in 2015. The story follows Nora and her pet puppy, Ruffer, in the days leading up to Ruffer’s birthday. There are so much for Nora to do including working out how many people (and their pets) to invite altogether; how many eggs to buy to make the birthday cake for Ruffer, and which discounted fruit to buy, etc. All of these everyday activities require Nora to use her addition and subtraction skills. Page illustrations are cute and useful in helping very young children to see the process of adding and taking away something. Like most titles in this series, the book comes with a few mathematical word problems relating to the story to be solved at the end of the story. Unfortunately, there is a mathematical error in the story: at one point, Nora needs to work out the total cost of buying three different items (i.e. ice cream $4, strawberries $5 and eggs $2), and the corresponding number sentence for this is ‘$4 + $5 = $9 + $2 = $11’. All in all, ‘Ruffer’s Birthday Party’ is a wonderful story to introduce the concept of addition and subtraction to children aged 4+ years old, though the aforementioned error must be addressed. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author)
Recommended age range:
5 years old +
Relevant mathematics topics:
Addition & Subtraction
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.
