Marvelous Math

A Book of Poems

Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Illustrated by Karen Barbour

Lee Bennett Hopkins has gathered 16 poems with different perspectives on math by many well-known poets such as Karla Kuskin, David McCord and Janet S. Wong. The rhyme scheme is a mixture of couplets as well as free verse that makes for a good variety. Selections range from laugh-out-loud funny such as "Who Hasn't Played Gazintas": "In your arithmetic/the problem is what sticks./The language isn't bound/by spelling, but by sound./So 3 gazinta 81./The answer? 27. Done!" to the more serious "Math Makes Me Feel Safe": "Math makes me feel safe/knowing that my brother will always be/three years younger than I am/and every day of the year will have twenty-four hours." There are also several poems that address how math is used in every day life. For example, readers will find themselves wondering after reading Mary O'Neill's "Take A Number": (excerpted)

Imagine a world

Without mathematics:

No rulers or scales

No inches or feet,

No dates on or numbers

On house or street. . .

Wouldn't it be awful

To live like that?

Illustrator Karen Barbour does a great job with her whimsical watercolor pictures for each poem - helping to illuminate the meaning for the reader. Many of the poems are experiences that the intended audience of 3rd-5th graders may relate to. However, any person who has struggled with math or finds it thrilling will enjoy this collection of poetry. MARVELOUS MATH has the wonderful ability to help children see that math is not just numbers but can also be poetry.

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 1997. MARVELOUS MATH, A BOOK OF POEMS. Ill. Karen Barbour. New York: Scholastic.