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These Books Make Math SO Much Fun!
Thank you, math teachers. How do you do it? You somehow make children know math and you do it with style. Here are a selection of books filled with math concepts just right for elementary school learners.
The Arithmechicks & CATastrophe Tale Series!
Math is a breeze to master with math-loving kittens and the Arithmechicks! Author Ann Marie Stephens was an elementary teacher for over 28 years, and is an expert at teaching math basics so little ones can learn. Both series are a perfect introduction to essential math and a great fit for young readers preschool through 3rd grade, and ages 4-8.
In Arithmechicks Add Up ten math-loving chicks make a new friend at the playground while demonstrating key math concepts to children!
Mouse comes over for a sleepover in Arithmechicks Take Away. When Mama says it’s time for bed, the clever chicks decide it’s time to prolong the fun instead.
Join the Arithmechicks and Mouse as they head off to the fair in Arithmechicks Play Fair. These chicks can’t wait to enjoy the roller coaster, bumper cars, games, and delicious snacks; meanwhile Mouse is determined to sink the rooster at the dunk tank.
In Arithmechicks Take a Calculation Vacation, the chicks are headed to the beach! Readers are invited to add and subtract as these math-loving chicks also explore fact families.
The fun’s just beginning! In Arithmechicks Find Their Place, readers help solve a mystery in the big city—all while learning about the concept of ordinal numbers.
In Arithmechicks Explore More, the chicks learn about the math concepts of greater than, less than, and equal to on a hike in the forest. These heartwarming stories are delightful and prove one thing for certain—the more arithmechicks, the better!
In CATastrophe!, nine kittens go on an exciting boating adventure that’s a (funny) catastrophe in this playful picture book that demonstrates the key math concept of patterns.
The math-loving kittens return in CATerwaul! when they help Grandma pack up her belongings for her move to the Catskill Mountains. Key math concept: Sorting. COMING DECEMBER 2025.
CATawampus! shows the kittens racing to build the best robot as they compete in a STEM day at school. Key math concept: Identifying shapes.
In sCATtered! , the kittens prepare a party for their number-one grandmother. Key math concept: Estimation.
We’ve got 2025 Mathical Award Winners!
Every year the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath) announces the winners of the Mathical Book Prize, which recognizes outstanding fiction and nonfiction for youth ages 2-18.
This year’s selections favor adventure, high-spirited response to challenging times, and the joy and usefulness of measurement.
The Mathical selection committee chose The Fabulous Fannie Farmer as the Award Winner in the Grades 3-5 category.
Fannie Farmer, America’s most famous cooking teacher, discovers that precise measurements are a recipe for cooking success in this STEAM picture book that includes two of her classic recipes.
ALSC Notable Children’s Book · CCBC Choices 2025 · A NSTA-CBC Best STEM Book · 2025 Texas Topaz List · 2025 Rise: A Feminist Book Project Title
★ School Library Journal, starred review ★ Youth Services Book Review, starred review
The committee also selected A Tour of the Human Body as an Honor Book in the Grades 3-5 category.
This picture book for young readers is a tour of the human body revealing the wonders of how it all works — with some astonishing numbers and fascinating facts along the way.
2025 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List
Math Books from TOON
Don’t miss these book exploring math concepts from TOON—also wonderful for preschoolers!
Math Matters Stories
The Math Matters series have fun stories with a real-life math connection—and over 11 million Math Matters books have been sold worldwide! Young readers in kindergarten through second grade, around 5-7 years old, will relate to the engaging characters and their kid-sized dilemmas. Activities at the back of each book support and extend reading and math skills.
More Math Concepts for Readers
For young mathematicians in Grade 2 and beyond, here are a few excellent choices! Think of The Brilliant Calculator as Hidden Figures meets Rosie Revere, Engineer in this STEM/STEAM biographical picture book about Edith Clarke, the innovator who solved an electrical mystery and built the first graphing calculator—from paper.
The Math Dictionary is the essential guide that will help math phobic kids become math lovers!
Learn all about more complex math concepts like fractals, Fibonacci numbers, and the elusive infinity with Sarah and Richard Campbell’s books for elementary school readers.
