Another month, another book giveaway. This month's book is in honor of a March holiday that I went for WAY too many years without celebrating until I was informed of it a couple years ago by Maria Droujkova of Natural Math. That holiday is Pi Day, which is celebrated on March 14 in recognition of the Pi number of 3.14159265.....well, click here for the first million digits of Pi.
Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised that the book I'm giving away this month is Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese. I love this book, as I've attested in my review on my blog; we've used it not only for math, but for a variety of subjects ranging from cooking to poetry. As I explained on my blog post, Picture Books for Middle Schoolers, that while the book is written for an elementary school audience, I think middle schoolers--and perhaps older--can find deeper levels in the books than the younger students, making it appropriate for a wide age range of readers. But you can make your own judgement for your children by viewing parts of the book at its own website.
However, as wonderful as the book is itself, the copy we will give away will be extra special because it will be signed by the author himself! So you want to be sure to enter. To become eligible for the drawing, you need to add your name to the comments below. Although it is not a requirement, I would love you to also include in your comment the title of a math-related picture book that you and/or your family recommends. This will allow us to create a list of other math picture books to share with readers of this blog.
You can also earn additional entries by helping me to spread the word about this contest. So if you post an announcement about this on your blog, your Facebook page, or your Twitter account, email me at ccross@mindspring.com to let me know, and I will give you an additional five entries to the one you get by entering a comment.
To get an idea about the beautiful graphics in this book, please watch the following two-minute trailer:
Good luck to all applicatants. The winner will be chosen after midnight on Pi Day by Random.org through a random number simulation process. Be sure to check back here on March 15 to find out if you are the lucky winner!
UPDATE: We have now scheduled a free webinar with the author! Check this blog post for details.
Wow Carol that book looks so fun! I might have to pick it up! thanks for the great blog posts!
ReplyDeletei looked at the million digits of pi and i noticed it differed at the 45th digit on from pi in a book, _Why Pi?_ by Johnny Ball. i don't know who's right. Will
ReplyDeleteWow! That is a fantastic eye for details, Will. I have no idea, but maybe Miss Maria can help solve this discrepancy.
ReplyDeleteIt's a beautiful book! I love it! We also like The Rabbit Problem, by Emily Gravett (and a lot of rabbits), and The Wright 3, by Blue Balliett, both of which deal with the Fibonacci sequence.
ReplyDeleteAnn Murphy Swamp House
2247 Ann Drive
St. Joseph, Mich. 49085
What a cool book this is, I would to be able to give a copy to my daughter's math club. Thank you for offering your giveaway!
ReplyDeleteI don't know The Rabbit Problem, but thanks for reminding me about The Wright 3. I like all the books in that series. It's great to see how the author relates math to art.
ReplyDeleteThanks for helping to pass the word. I'll be sure to give you all five extra entries in the giveaway.
This is a great addition to our interdisciplinary 4th and 5th grade math curriculum; thanks for sharing the film too! Another great math story is One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi. I use this artfully illustrated story to introduce exponential notation as well as the power of MATHEMATICS.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carol! I'll look forward to checking out this one. Everyone of all ages in my house still spends time with City by Numbers, by Stephen T. Johnson, even though we're all long past numeral recognition. It's a beautiful book.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great book!
ReplyDeleteI like You Can Count on Monsters, Quack and Count, all of Anno's books, How Hungry Are You?, The Cat in Numberland, Powers of Ten, and a bunch of not-picture-books I posted about here.
ReplyDeleteThe digits of pi should be right at wolframalpha.com. You could check there.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to tonight's webinar!
ReplyDelete