THE ANIMALS WOULD NOT SLEEP
Author: Sara Levine
Illustrator: Marta Alvarez Miguens
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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
With bedtime fast approaching, young Latinx scientist Marco wants to sort his stuffed animals into categories that will help them comfortably settle down. He observes, compares, and groups, but the animals refuse every classification. Finally Marco combines math with empathy to get the most important result: maximum snuggles. The Storytelling Math series shows that all children can be mathematical thinkers. Each book includes ideas for exploring math at home with your children, developed in collaboration with math experts at STEM education nonprofit TERC Inc., under a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation. |
“He dumped all the animals out. Maybe he should group them by size, so medium-sized Zebra and medium-sized Giraffe could be together.”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Sara Levine’s ‘The Animals Would Not Sleep’ (2020) is a part of Charlesbridge’s Storytelling Math series which promotes diversity (e.g., gender and ethnicity) in mathematical stories. The story follows Marco who wants to tidy up his bedroom by sorting all his stuffed animals into groups initially by their habitat, then their colour and later their size, but nothing pleases the stuff animals. How can he sort them in a way that makes everyone happy? The story is very engaging and there are so many follow-up activities that teachers and parents can do with their children once they have read the story, for example, children could be asked to sort out a bucket full of different items from around the classroom using 1-2 pre-determined sorting criteria (e.g., colour and material) and then the children could be encouraged to come up with their own criteria as well. 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 Marta Alvarez Miguens are so visually attractive and help young readers to clearly visualise the mathematical concepts behind the story. All in all, we highly recommend ‘The Animals Would Not Sleep’ to either introduce (or reinforce) the concept of sorting and classification 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:
Sorting & Classifying
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.
Sara Levine’s ‘The Animals Would Not Sleep’ (2020) is a part of Charlesbridge’s Storytelling Math series which promotes diversity (e.g., gender and ethnicity) in mathematical stories. The story follows Marco who wants to tidy up his bedroom by sorting all his stuffed animals into groups initially by their habitat, then their colour and later their size, but nothing pleases the stuff animals. How can he sort them in a way that makes everyone happy? The story is very engaging and there are so many follow-up activities that teachers and parents can do with their children once they have read the story, for example, children could be asked to sort out a bucket full of different items from around the classroom using 1-2 pre-determined sorting criteria (e.g., colour and material) and then the children could be encouraged to come up with their own criteria as well. 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 Marta Alvarez Miguens are so visually attractive and help young readers to clearly visualise the mathematical concepts behind the story. All in all, we highly recommend ‘The Animals Would Not Sleep’ to either introduce (or reinforce) the concept of sorting and classification 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:
Sorting & Classifying
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.
