THINK POSITIVE, PIPPA!
Author: Catherine Daly
Illustrator: Hector Borlasca
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Number of pages: 29
Publisher: Kane Press (USA) First published in: 2022 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes Is this story part of a mathematics story series? Yes (Math Matters) Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, IND, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
A day at a Renaissance fair? Pippa isn’t so sure. First she gets stuck with the jester costume, then the fair runs out of turkey legs. But after she becomes a game piece in a living board game, positive and negative take on all new meanings. Steps forward could take her to Unicorn Falls. Steps backward to Stinky Swamp. Think positive, Pippa! |
“Emily and Rahul both moved forward on their turns. Pippa read the next card. "You fall into the moat. Go back ten spaces." Pippa frowned. "But I'm already at zero. I can't go back more."”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Catherine Daly’s ‘Think Positive, Pippa!’ (2022), one of the latest titles in Kane Press’s Math Matters series, is currently one of only two mathematical stories in the market right now that explicitly focuses on the concept of negative numbers. The story is about Pippa and her family at a Renaissance fair which has different activities that provide meaningful contexts to introduce the concept of negative numbers to young children. For example, at the Tug-of-War game, points are deducted from a team that falls in the mud. At the joust, points are deducted from a knight if they start too soon. At the life-size Snakes and Ladders board game-styled zone, players may land on a spot that makes them take a certain number of steps back. What will happen to Pippa when she is already at zero and still being instructed to go back ten spaces? The page illustrations in this part of the story, in particular, are useful in visually illustrating the concept of negative numbers to young readers. The story does well in highlighting children’s common misconceptions about negative numbers e.g., Pippa thinks a player with -5 points is winning over a player with 3 points because 5 is bigger than 3, ignoring the minus sign in front of 5. The story also does well in showing to young children that the same word can mean different things in different contexts (e.g., negative numbers and feeling negative). Like the other titles in the series, this book also comes with 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 write positive and negative numbers on a set of blank cards, shuffle them and place them upside down. Then, children take turn to select a card at a time and place it on the floor to create a number path. All in all, we highly recommend ‘Think Positive, Pippa!’ to introduce the concept of negative numbers to children, aged 6+ years old.
Recommended age range:
6+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Negative 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.
Catherine Daly’s ‘Think Positive, Pippa!’ (2022), one of the latest titles in Kane Press’s Math Matters series, is currently one of only two mathematical stories in the market right now that explicitly focuses on the concept of negative numbers. The story is about Pippa and her family at a Renaissance fair which has different activities that provide meaningful contexts to introduce the concept of negative numbers to young children. For example, at the Tug-of-War game, points are deducted from a team that falls in the mud. At the joust, points are deducted from a knight if they start too soon. At the life-size Snakes and Ladders board game-styled zone, players may land on a spot that makes them take a certain number of steps back. What will happen to Pippa when she is already at zero and still being instructed to go back ten spaces? The page illustrations in this part of the story, in particular, are useful in visually illustrating the concept of negative numbers to young readers. The story does well in highlighting children’s common misconceptions about negative numbers e.g., Pippa thinks a player with -5 points is winning over a player with 3 points because 5 is bigger than 3, ignoring the minus sign in front of 5. The story also does well in showing to young children that the same word can mean different things in different contexts (e.g., negative numbers and feeling negative). Like the other titles in the series, this book also comes with 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 write positive and negative numbers on a set of blank cards, shuffle them and place them upside down. Then, children take turn to select a card at a time and place it on the floor to create a number path. All in all, we highly recommend ‘Think Positive, Pippa!’ to introduce the concept of negative numbers to children, aged 6+ years old.
Recommended age range:
6+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Negative 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.
