fractions, decimals, percents, ratios

Books on fractions, decimals, percents, ratios, proportions and related concepts

► A family favorite of ours. Y = for the youngest kids

Fractions, Decimals and Percents

Alice in Pastaland: A Math Adventure – Cute picture book, take off on the famous story but with math based storyline

Apple Fractions Jerry Pallotta, better than average book on fractions

Calculator Mania! (101 Ways to Enjoy a Calculator Without Throwing It!) Planet Dexter, fun! not boring book on using a calculator, which applies decimal knowledge

Delightful Decimals and Perfect Percents: Games and Activities That Make Math Easy and Fun by Lynette Long

Eating Fractions by Bruce McMillan, nice illustrations, an introduction for very young children.

Fractions Are Parts of Things (Young Math Books) by J. Richard Dennis.

Fraction Action by Loreen Leedy, in the style of Mission Addition, we like this author a lot

Fraction Fun by David Adler

Fraction Jugglers: Game and Work Book and Math Game Cards by Ruth Alexander Bell – Game cards and book, not a reader, an excellent resource for fraction games

Full House: An Invitation to Fractions by Dayle Ann Dodds

Go, Fractions! (All Aboard Math Reader, Station Stop 3) by Judith Stamper

Hello Math Readers: One Hungry Cat (Hello Math Reader. Level 3) Rocklin, Joanne/Barnes-Murphy 1997Division, hilarious illustrations, can be used to learn fractions as well / The Grizzly Gazette (MathStart 3) by Stuart J. Murphy, on percentages

The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar Fractions Book by Jerry Pallotta, decent book on fractions

How Many Ways Can You Cut a Pie? by Moncure, Jane Belk

Life of Fred - Fractions by Stanley F. Schmidt

Lion's Share – A Tale of Halving Cake and Eating It, Too by Matthew McElligott – fun book to introduce ideas of fractions and repeated halving

Little Numbers And Pictures That Show Just How Little They Are! by Packard, Edward

MathStart Readers by Stuart Murphy: Give Me Half! (MathStart 2) / Jump, Kangaroo, Jump! (MathStart 3) Fractions / The Grizzly Gazette (MathStart 3) Percentages

Multi-Concept Resources: See list below.

Multiplying Menace: The Revenge Of Rumpelstiltskin (A Math Adventure) – unique story involving multiplying by fractions as well as whole numbers

Piece = Part = Portion by Scott Gifford - Fractions, decimals, and percents, nice photos, easy intro

Polar Bear Math: Learning About Fractions from Klondike and Snow by Ann Whitehead Nagda

Senefer: A Young Genius in Old Egypt by Beatrice Lumpkin - wonderful living book on several accounts, but as Senefer learns the Egyptian way of writing numbers, it emphasizes how number bases are constructed. Addition and multiplication are woven in the story as well.

The Fraction Family Heads West by Trevor Romain

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Twizzlers Percentages Book by Jerry Pallotta, decent book on percents

Working With Fractions by David Adler

Zoo Fair Shares (Zoo Math.) Y by Patricia Whitehouse - Young book on portions / proportions

The Case of the Missing Zebra Stripes Zoo Math (I Love Math) Math in nature, my kids really like this

Ratios and Proportions

Beanstalk: The Measure Of A Giant (A Math Adventure) by Ann McCallum. Retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk with ratio concepts.

Cut Down to Size at High Noon: A Math Adventure by Scott Sundby

Warlord's Puppeteers, The (Warlord's Series) by Virginia Walton Pilegard

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Multi-Concept Resources: These resources cover many math concepts, including fractions, decimals, percents, ratios and proportions:

The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat Pappas, Theoni. Math exploration through short vignettes. Also, Further Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat.

Big Ideas for Growing Mathematicians: Exploring Elementary Math with 20 Ready-to-Go Activities(ages 10 – 14) by Ann Kajander – this is an activity book rather than a reader.

Cyberchase ► PBS show, hugely popular and valuable 30 minutes - ages 4 to 10 ish? Some fun but heavy duty math. The website has many good math activities as well.

Fractals, Googols, and Other Mathematical Talesby Theoni Pappas. Many math concepts.

Galaxy Getaway (Math for Martians) by Ferris, Julie; Tassie, Jane – This is a multi-concept book that uses a story-line to present a series of puzzles using a variety of math skills

I Hate Mathematics! (Brown Paper School Books) Burns, Marilyn/Weston, Martha. General math/math history. Classic

Historical Connections in Mathematics Volumes 1, 2 and 3 by Wilbert and Luetta Reimer - Activity books that go along with the Mathematicians Are People, Too series, published by AIMS Education. Lots of activities involve concepts of ratios and proportions.

I Love Math Series, Timelife ► - There are 13 of these lively multi-concept books, each with themes ranging from sports and nature to space and the mall. They are out of print, but still available. See the "I Love Math" page for the list of books with brief descriptions. These may be the most read math readers in our home library over the past decade. The following cover fractions in particular: Pterodactyl Tunnel: Amusement Park Math; The Case of the Missing Zebra Stripes ; The Mystery of the Sunken Treasure: Sea Math; Alice in Numberland (Fantasy Math); From Head to Toe, Body Math; Look Both Ways: City Math; I Love Math: Pizza Pie? Right In Your Backyard, Nature Math

Math Curse Scieszka, Jon/Smith, Lane Number series. Abstract, in your face humor, classic, wide appeal to all ages

Math for Smarty Pants, a Brown Paper School book ► by Marilyn Burns – this one is for approximately 4rd grade on up. TONS of different math ideas in this. Includes history, words and numbers, metric system, number bases

Math Smart Junior: Grade School Math Made Easy (Princeton Smart Juniors Grades 6 to 8) ► Lerner, Marcia Princeton Review, dumb name but great story math book for upper elem, my son read this repeatedly, for older kids (concepts start at addition and move to early algebra).

Also try Math Smart Junior II: More Math Made Easy by Paul Foglino (for upper elem / middle school) – topics not covered in MathSmart I including history, words and numbers, metric system, number bases

Math Wizardry for Kids by Margaret Kenda and Phyllis S. Williams- activities, stories, games

Murderous Maths (don’t forget the ‘s’) ► by Kjartan Poskitt, Guaranteed to contain no nasty exercises and no boring sums! These are meaty books and adults that enjoy comics could enjoy them too. The Essential Arithmetricks (Operations) – a Murderous Maths book by Kjartan Poskitt is particularly recommended, also, The Mean and Vulgar Bits

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Multi-concepts, cute illustrations. Fun classic, very wide appeal, can be read aloud to even very young kids

Planet Omicron (Math for Martians) by Ferris, Julie; Tassie, Jane

Playing with Infinity: Mathematical Explorations and Excursions High school on up level, but starts at the beginning with addition concepts building up to infinity. Nice explanation of negative numbers.