MATH CURSE

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Author: Jon Sciesza 

Illustrator: Lane Smith

Publisher: Viking

Year of Publication: 1995

Genre: Fiction-Mathematics 

Horn Book or Kirkus Reviews rating: Horn (1)

Summary: This book is about a student in math class thinking he is cursed after his math teacher told the class "You know, you can think of almost everything as a math problem." The trouble all began from there as the student started having nightmares about everything and finding everything he does is turning into a math problem and the problem is to find a solution to this math curse!

Summary of Professional Reviews:  
According to The Horn Book Review, Math Curse was rated a 1 because of the "textured, modern, abstract art and text". The student in the book began to see everything as a problem after his math teacher told his class that you can think of almost everything as a math problem.

Review by Ranim Sankari: 
Math Curse is a wonderful book that not only includes a series of mathematical problems that children can solve, but also an interesting narrative structure. The story started off by the little boy's math teacher saying that everything can be looked at as a math problem and from there, the boy that he had a math curse. After going through many mathematical obstacles, he finally broke his curse yet, the author decided to end the book by saying that now his science teacher said "You know, you can think of almost everything as a science experiment". The ending adds a little humor to it and can keep the children guessing to what would have happened if the story did not end from there. The illustrations are also very modern and wonderful that students can also enjoy looking at the pictures as well as the book itself.

This book would be useful when teaching…
  • This book can be used during a math lesson about addition or subtraction.  There are many "problems" identified in this book that the teacher can have his/her students solve. This book can be a great opening introduction before introducing a math lesson.