Alice in Numberland: Fantasy Math

First a disclaimer - while I didn't work on this book, I was part of the publishing team that developed this series, and though I left Time-Life nearly a decade ago, I'm very proud of the work we did in the Children's editorial group. I'm not writing for that reason, though. I'm writing as a parent, because my son, now 5, absolutely adores this book - so much so that I'm now shopping for a copy for a friend of his. My son has carried Alice around the house with him for a week straight and is constantly reading from this book. It's a terrific introduction to fundamental math concepts: to logic, the concept of fractions, basic arithmetic, patterns, even to telling time and to measurement. Each of the stories includes hands-on projects in parents' notes at the bottom of the page, and "Riddle Rabbits" sprinkled throughout offer an opportunity to practice what you've learned in a fun way. If my son's obsession is any indication, this book really engages children in putting together the basic building blocks they will need to be successful in math. It's also helping him become a better reader, as he adores the stories and tries to read them (often successfully) on his own.I can tell you that this book is part of a great Time-Life children's book series called I Love Math. This is the first book from the series that my son has pulled from my shelves, but he loves it so much, I know it won't be the last. It's just a shame that Time-Life is no longer producing such great books as these.

Alice in Numberland is a painless way to get your kids learning math. If they know Alice from her other books, they'll especially like it. Generally, Alice here is concerned more with logic than mathematics per se, which makes this book a good introduction to the field, by teaching logical thinking. The riddles seem to be at a good level for kids, not too difficult, but challenging. I'm not sure I like the illustrations or the writing very much, but overall it's not bad, and a nice effort. If you're looking for a good book of riddles, to keep your kids busy on those long car rides, this might be the one.