Let’s Add Up!

With an increased focus across the country on math scores, Let’s Add Up by Victoria Allenby and Maggie Zeng is the perfect early learning book to get readers excited about numbers.

Let’s Add Up is the story of composing the number 10. Throughout the book, children choose things that are similar to add up to the number 10. For example:

“6 pots + 4 pans = 10 dishes…or a feast!” 

Not only do readers get to see the numerous ways they can make 10, they also can find out ways that similar things can come together to make one big thing, like a feast in the example.

The book, part of Pajama Press Inc’s Big, Little Concept Books line, is created especially for early readers with sturdy, heavy card pages and a soft heavy duty cover, its a book that will stand up to multiple readings. It also has excellent back matter to help parents and educators extend the learning in the story. There is lots of inspiration for math centers or small world exploration that will come from this simple little story.

Maggie Zeng’s illustrations are inclusive and full of joy. Readers will notice there is a child in the story who wears a hearing device and another who uses a wheelchair. There are also children with different skin colours and hairstyles. The art makes the story feel like a community or classroom, perfect for the theme of the book.

There are very few math focused picture books available to readers and educators to foster not only a love of reading but also a love of numbers. Victoria Allenby has found a gap in the toolkit and has filled it with Let’s Add Up! I hope there are more math focused books in the future.