THE SEVEN CHINESE SISTERS
Author: Kathy Tucker
Illustrator: Grace Lin
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Number of pages: 29
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co. First published in: 2003 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? No 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
Once there were seven Chinese sisters who lived together and took care of each other. Each one had a special talent. When baby Seventh Sister is snatched by a hungry dragon, her loving sisters race to save her. In this delightful update of a classic Chinese folk tale, each sister uses her talent in a surprising way to rescue baby Seventh Sister - and even Seventh Sister turns out to have an unexpected skill! |
“But the sisters were very different. First Sister could ride a scooter fast as the wind. Second Sister knew karate - kick, chop, hi-yah! Third Sister could count - to five hundred and beyond.”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Kathy Tucker’s ‘The Seven Chinese Sisters’ (2003) is a reimagined version of China’s centuries-old 'Ten Brothers' tale. In Kate’s version of the story, it is about an attempt made by six sisters – each with their own special talent – to save their seventh baby sister, who has been abducted by a hungry dragon. Throughout the story, young readers will get to hear ordinal numbers being used to refer to the different sisters. We think the story lends itself nicely to follow-up activities that teachers can do with their children once they have read the story, for example, children can be split into five lines of six children each, and the teacher can call out an ordinal number so that the child (across the five lines) with that ordinal number needs to sit down. The team that makes least mistakes win. The page illustrations by Grace Lin are charming, though the presence of the symbolic representation of the ordinal numbers (e.g., 1st, 2nd, etc.) to accompany their corresponding ordinal number names would have strengthened the mathematical use of this story further. All in all, we highly recommend ‘The Seven Chinese Sisters’ to introduce the concept of ordinal numbers to children, aged 5+ years old.
Recommended age range:
5+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Ordinal Numbers
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.
Kathy Tucker’s ‘The Seven Chinese Sisters’ (2003) is a reimagined version of China’s centuries-old 'Ten Brothers' tale. In Kate’s version of the story, it is about an attempt made by six sisters – each with their own special talent – to save their seventh baby sister, who has been abducted by a hungry dragon. Throughout the story, young readers will get to hear ordinal numbers being used to refer to the different sisters. We think the story lends itself nicely to follow-up activities that teachers can do with their children once they have read the story, for example, children can be split into five lines of six children each, and the teacher can call out an ordinal number so that the child (across the five lines) with that ordinal number needs to sit down. The team that makes least mistakes win. The page illustrations by Grace Lin are charming, though the presence of the symbolic representation of the ordinal numbers (e.g., 1st, 2nd, etc.) to accompany their corresponding ordinal number names would have strengthened the mathematical use of this story further. All in all, we highly recommend ‘The Seven Chinese Sisters’ to introduce the concept of ordinal numbers to children, aged 5+ years old.
Recommended age range:
5+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Ordinal Numbers
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.
