Pi Day is coming! Who’s planning to bake a pie (or buy a pie)? Many of us enjoy this unofficial holiday (March 14 or 3.14, get it?) as an excuse to enjoy pie. Some folks like having a reason to get excited about math. If you are one of those people—or if you don’t get excited about math, you but need to teach or learn math anyway—I have a newer resource to tell you about!
TumbleMath is a newer eResource that is full of books about math! You can read the books (or watch an animated version) and practice what you learn with the quizzes and worksheets provided. Teachers and parents can also find lesson plans with helpful information about how the books match curriculum standards. The “about” page has two guides for using TumbleMath. One is aimed at parents and the other at classroom teachers.
It’s super easy to browse through the available titles. You can also select specific topics to see what books are available on that subject for readers in different grades.
One of the really nice things about TumbleMath is that there are no restrictions on people using the same book at the same time. So if everybody wants to read Sir Cumference And The Dragon Of Pi on Pi Day, you don’t have to worry about all the copies being checked out! (Just so you know, you can also find the Sir Cumference books on hoopla.)
The collection is made up of picture books, but that doesn’t mean all the books are for younger children. There are some graphic novels and books on more advanced topics for students up through fifth grade.
You may also like to look back at our previous list of recommended books about pie and pi.
Happy Pi Day to You! by Bonnie Worth
The Cat in the Hat visits Sally and Dick’s school on Pi-Day and shows them how to measure pi.
Nightlights by Lorena Alvarez
Sandy attends Catholic school, but she is more interested in the tiny stars that appear in her bedroom at night that she later turns into pictures. When a mysterious new girl appears at school, Sandy’s drawings are noticed for the first time. However, Morfie’s fascination with Sandy’s talent soon turns into something far more sinister. It turns out Sandy may have been paying attention in class after all, and this may give her a secret weapon… (This book came out a few years ago, and now there is a new sequel: Hicotea.)
The Complete Baking Book For Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen
An ultimate first baking book for kids by the experts at America’s Test Kitchen. This book provides step-by-step, photographed recipes for sweet and savory favorites, from pie to pizza, while explaining the science behind what makes baked goods so tasty.
Geometry Is As Easy As Pie by Katie Coppens; design by Yu-Yi Ling
Math is made yummy in this follow-up to the acclaimed Geology Is a Piece of Cake. With scrumptious-looking photos, easy recipes and a variety of pies to bake or just ogle, this book provides a fun and memorable approach to thinking and learning about circles, polygons, angles, parallel and perpendicular lines, tessellations, symmetry, area, volume and more. This book will leave the reader with a taste for geometry!
I Only Have Pies for You by Suzanne Nelson
The popular Wish novels author returns with another “foodie” tween novel with a serving of down-home cooking and scrumptious pies.
Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai
11-year-old Jingwen is feeling out of place when his family moves to an English-speaking country. He dreams about making all the cakes from the bakery his father had planned to open before he unexpectedly passed away. The only problem is that his mother has laid down one major rule: her children are not to use the oven while she’s at work.
Pies From Nowhere by Dee Romito; illustrated by Laura Freeman
Describes how Georgia Gilmore organized a group of women who baked pies to fundraise for the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955.
Robo-Dodo Rumble by Tom Angleberger; illustrated by Jared Chapman
A sequel to Recipe for Disaster. This new adventure finds sidekick Koko Dodo’s cookie shop targeted by an evil robotic dodo competitor that would put him out of business. At the same time, Dido Dodo defends the town from a giant sea monster. By the best-selling author of the Origami Yoda series.
Summer of a Thousand Pies by Margaret Dilloway
After her father goes to jail, Cady Bennett, age twelve, is taken from foster care to spend a summer with her estranged Aunt Michelle, who is trying to save her failing pie shop.