Math unnerves Nikhil, who prefers art, storytime, and gardening. But Nikhil\u2019s teacher, Ms. Oates, suggests that the youngster write letters to math (\u201cShe thinks it will help us be friends. It won\u2019t\u201d). Over time, Nikhil\u2019s hostility (\u201cYou make my tummy hurt,\u201d \u201cI still don\u2019t want to be friends\u201d) turns to curiosity and even passion. Told entirely through letters, the book spans a school year as Nikhil begins to realize math is everywhere. Shapes, like octagons, are all around us; folding snowflakes helps the child learn about symmetry\u2014and lets the youngster fuse a love of art with an appreciation for math. Turns out that astronauts also use math\u2014another career path for Nikhil. Humor and clever wordplay drive the narrative (\u201cDid you hear the one about the hen who counts her eggs every day? She is a brilliant mathemachicken,\u201d riffs Nikhil at one point). Haldar makes clear that the child\u2019s dislike of math is rooted in a fear of messing up\u2014something that will resonate with many students. But, she emphasizes, math is about more than getting the right answers; it\u2019s about passion and discovery. Martinez\u2019s energetic artwork has a childlike flair (doodles appear on Nikhil\u2019s letters) while also clarifying the concepts discussed. Brown-skinned Nikhil is cued South Asian.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Math unnerves Nikhil, who prefers art, storytime, and gardening. But Nikhil\u2019s teacher, Ms. Oates, suggests that the youngster write letters to math (\u201cShe thinks it will help us be friends. It won\u2019t\u201d). Over time, Nikhil\u2019s hostility (\u201cYou make my tummy hurt,\u201d \u201cI still don\u2019t want to be friends\u201d) turns to curiosity and even passion. Told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7065"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}