by Natasha Yim (Author) Violet Kim (Illustrator)
Celebrate diversity, math, and the power of storytelling!
On Luna's birthday, the whole family goes out for dim sum--but Luna and her brothers can't agree on how to share their pork buns fairly. How can three people divide up five buns? Should some siblings get more than others? Or should they cut the buns into smaller and smaller pieces so everyone gets the same amount? A playful exploration of division and fractions, featuring Chinese American characters and a cultural note.
Storytelling Math celebrates children using math in their daily adventures as they play, build, and discover the world around them. Joyful stories and hands-on activities make it easy for kids and their grown-ups to explore everyday math together. Developed in collaboration with math experts at STEM education nonprofit TERC, under a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation.
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PreS-Gr 3--The latest installment of the "Storytelling Math" series, which deepens understanding of math concepts through engaging stories. It is young Luna's birthday, and she and her brothers are taken to a dim sum restaurant as a special treat. Luna, Kai, and Benji use the six pork buns they share to explain the concept of division. After receiving the buns, Luna drops one, causing the siblings to have to rethink dividing them up. Each sibling tries a few different ways to convince the group why they are deserving of a larger amount of food, but in the end, the children find a way to share the food equally while making a new friend. Ma Ma and Ba Ba do not intervene in the argument; they are hands-off and even seem amused by the children's bickering. Kim's soft, gentle, and playful illustrations nudge readers toward not taking the argument too seriously. While skin tone is somewhat varied when representing characters in the restaurant, there is no difference in the representation of their facial features (all have dots for eyes and similar angles for noses). The book's back matter contains useful information about dim sum, the Chinese zodiac, and the mathematical concept of division, as well as four extension activities. VERDICT A good addition to collections that support STEM programming or where this series circulates well already.--Shannon O'Connor, Unami M.S., Chalfont, PA
Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Natasha Yim was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but attended elementary school in Singapore, and high school in Hong Kong. In 1979, she came to the U.S. for college and graduated from Dominican University in San Rafael, California. Most of her career has been in counseling or social work. It was through reading and telling stories to kids who were away from their families, that Natasha discovered the power of stories to soothe, comfort and inspire children. She decided she wanted to write books for kids. Natasha enjoys writing in different genres and, in addition to children's books, has written magazine articles (both for kids and adults), short plays, play and book reviews, and is currently working on two middle grade novels as well as more picture book projects.