Let's Play Math {Book Review and Giveaway}

"Why are you smiling?" asked my 7-year-old girl as she peered over my shoulder.  I glanced up from my book - "Let's Play Math" by Denise Gaskins - but before I could answer her question, my daughter disappeared.  A minute later, she returned with a piece of paper and a box of sparkly markers.  "Can I play too?"  I looked at the book on my lap and my smile widened.  My daughter had noticed this image on the open page:

We spent the next hour playing with the Fibonacci sequence (using crackers) and making patterns out of Tangrams. That's what I love about "Let's Play Math"; This book not only gives parents ideas for making mathematics fun for children, but it also provides concrete examples that foster a family culture of enthusiasm around math.  At our house, playing with math as a family is just part of life.

Upcoming Book Club and Math Circle {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

There is no Frigate like a Book  

To take us Lands away,  

Nor any Coursers like a Page  

Of prancing Poetry –   

This Traverse may the poorest take         

Without oppress of Toll –   

How frugal is the Chariot  

That bears a Human soul.

                               -Emily Dickinson

Have you ever read a book that you just had to tell all your friends about?  What about an enthralling math problem you just had to share?  If you nodded at the former suggestion and chuckled at the latter one, you are not alone!  One of the reasons I wrote my book, Math and Magic in Wonderland, was to make the world of mathematics as fun and accessible as the world of literature.

My family has been having such a wonderful time playing along with my math adventure novel, that I just have to share it with others.  Today I'm excited to announce the Math and Magic Book Club and Math Circle.  I invite other families to join us as we read through the book and "play math" together...