MathsThroughStories.org
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • RESEARCH TEAM
    • On-line Contributors
    • Research Dissemination
    • Research Impact
    • SHOUTOUTS
    • Teacher Training / CPD Services
    • MEDIA APPEARANCES
  • RESOURCES
    • RECOMMENDATIONS
    • BLOG
    • NEWSLETTER
    • BOOK REVIEWS >
      • BOOK REVIEWS
      • INSPECTION COPIES
    • LESSON IDEAS
    • VIDEOS
    • CREATE YOUR OWN MATHEMATICAL STORIES >
      • GUIDELINE FOR MATHEMATICAL STORY AUTHORS
      • INTERVIEWS WITH MATHEMATICAL STORY AUTHORS
    • 'HOW TO' BOOKS
    • RESEARCH ARTICLES
    • PRACTITIONER-ORIENTED ARTICLES
  • COMPETITIONS
    • 2022 YMSA WINNING, SHORTLISTED AND LONGLISTED ENTRIES
    • 2021 YMSA WINNING, SHORTLISTED AND LONGLISTED ENTRIES
    • 2020 YMSA WINNING, SHORTLISTED AND LONGLISTED ENTRIES
    • 2019 YMSA WINNING AND SHORTLISTED ENTRIES
  • NEWS
  • CONTACT US
    • GET INVOLVED

EXPLORE OTHER 'PROBABILITY' STORIES HERE

SPIDER AND THE CANDY LADY
Author: Young-so Yu
​Illustrator: Ji-yea Han 

Picture
Number of pages: 31
Publisher: TanTan Publishing
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
​A spider goes into a candy store and guesses correctly who will buy what kind of candy. The spider researched the data and came up with the statistics. Then it guessed based on probability and statistics. Elementary math concepts that relate to ordering, classifying, and organizing data to help predict future outcomes expand this tasty story about business patterns in a candy store.
“"Danny will choose a gummy worm or banana-flavored bubblegum," Spider said. "Danny has bought a gummy worm six times. But he has bought banana-flavored bubblegum four times. That means he might choose either one."”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Young-so Yu’s ‘Spider and the Candy Lady’ 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 the Candy Lady who hates spiders, and Spider who offers to help the Candy Lady’s business by using his incredible memory of her customers’ candy-buying patterns to predict which type of candy customers are likely to buy to ensure enough products are stocked. The story does a good job in introducing the concept of prediction to young children and illustrate its usefulness in an everyday context. 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. All in all, ‘Spider and the Candy Lady’ is a useful story to introduce the concept of probability to children aged 9+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author)

Recommended age range: 
9+ years old

Relevant mathematics topics: 
​Probability

​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.

​mathsthroughstories.org

Picture

ABOUT US

MathsThroughStories.org is a non-profit and research-based initiative, based at the University of Reading's Institute of Education (UK).

It sets out to help mathematics learners around the world develop their conceptual understanding in mathematics and to help them foster positive attitudes towards the subject through  the power of storytelling.

Contact Us

  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • RESEARCH TEAM
    • On-line Contributors
    • Research Dissemination
    • Research Impact
    • SHOUTOUTS
    • Teacher Training / CPD Services
    • MEDIA APPEARANCES
  • RESOURCES
    • RECOMMENDATIONS
    • BLOG
    • NEWSLETTER
    • BOOK REVIEWS >
      • BOOK REVIEWS
      • INSPECTION COPIES
    • LESSON IDEAS
    • VIDEOS
    • CREATE YOUR OWN MATHEMATICAL STORIES >
      • GUIDELINE FOR MATHEMATICAL STORY AUTHORS
      • INTERVIEWS WITH MATHEMATICAL STORY AUTHORS
    • 'HOW TO' BOOKS
    • RESEARCH ARTICLES
    • PRACTITIONER-ORIENTED ARTICLES
  • COMPETITIONS
    • 2022 YMSA WINNING, SHORTLISTED AND LONGLISTED ENTRIES
    • 2021 YMSA WINNING, SHORTLISTED AND LONGLISTED ENTRIES
    • 2020 YMSA WINNING, SHORTLISTED AND LONGLISTED ENTRIES
    • 2019 YMSA WINNING AND SHORTLISTED ENTRIES
  • NEWS
  • CONTACT US
    • GET INVOLVED