Skip to main content

Bedtime Math- book review

In the series of Books Bedtime Math, by author Laura Overdeck, we get familiar some fun facts 😀

There are four Bedtime Math books:

Bedtime Math: A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late
Bedtime Math: This Time It’s Personal
Bedtime Math: The Truth Comes Out
Bedtime Math: How Many Guinea Pigs Can Fit on a Plane?

I read two of them, for which I'm going to share my personal impression.

    The first book that I read was the Bedtime Math: The Truth Comes Out. That books consists of 40 fun facts fitted into paragraph-long texts. Besides the facts, on the next side (one title covers two pages) you can see math-related questions on three levels of understanding math + the bonus question. The questions range from pre-K up to G7 maybe, although some bonus-problems are really tricky. I learned nice fun facts. The most interesting for me was the "Staring Contest", where the author is sharing the fact the camels have a 3 eyelids! Wow! Isn't that weird? 😀  To summarize, this book is fun-loving. And for sure it was an enjoyable experience. So, do I recommend? You betcha! 
 

    For a Bedtime Math: A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late, I couldn't say that I share the same impression. The content might be mathematically enthused, but pedagogically, it could've been done better.  In my opinion, the facts and the text could inspire kids to some dangerous activities. There is a complete chapter: "Sports you shouldn't try at home" where idea after idea is laid out. On page 56, we can read the sentence: " You strap yourself into a large, winged, kite-shaped object that weighs almost nothing. Then you get a running start and run right off the cliff." I mean: Whaat?!
In the same chapter, page 64, we can read: "...you can take a long, elastic cord called a bungee, hook one end to the bridge, hook the other end to yourself and jump." No words needed! 

Knowing that this book was read to so many young heads, unable to make the right judgment is petrifying. Further more, discussible chapter is the  "Extreme vehicles". There we can find: "strap a jet engine onto your back and fly" p.50. I understand the author's point of view, but with this type of facts and ideas you should write a precautious captions as well. Here I found some potentially disturbing ideas like: "But whether you want a frog as your friend or your dinner, you have to catch it first..." I found this sentence as non-appropriate one, because it leads to the thinking that one can choose between eating someone or keeping it. You might say that I'm overreacting but it's a bit of morbid for my taste.


    All in all, the series Bedtime Math are going better and better. Their first book in the series A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late, I have to say that would not recommend. However the third book Bedtime Math: The Truth Comes Out is a real gem and must read/have.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Talk with Marine Biologist

Hello! In this blog post, I'm going to discuss a Zoom call I had with Bart , my colleague from the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program . Yes, he's the marine biologist from the title! 😄 Our call was initiated by one of the assignments for our course, Foundations of Adult Learning. The assignment required us to discuss and cover two main questions: What are some trends in your field? What are some trends in adult education? We had two calls; the first one was just to get to know each other and share our career and life journeys, while the second was specifically for the assignment's discussion. Firstly, I'd like to express how happy I am to have had the chance to meet Bart. I feel very lucky to have been assigned a learning partner like him. In my opinion, Bart is a very well-spoken, educated, organized, and responsible person. There were no delays or misunderstandings in our communication regarding the assignments. Now, that either means we both understood the assign...
Post a Comment
Read more

Book Review: Power in Numbers

 Hello! Apparently, I had more time for reading! Yay! I have enrolled myself again in online course (just one at time, lesson learned haha) and I had more time for creative thinking; more time for managing my social pages, and yes: more FREE LITERATURE READING! So, this is one of the books I checked during this hottest-July-ever-recorded in Vancouver. Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics The author of this book is Talithia Williams. She holds a PhD in statistics, and in my opinion, she belongs as well to this squad of Rebel Women in Mathematics. Actually, I think every women in mathematics is rebel in a way. The often-seen norm in our society is not that women should be in the math sector. Women should be doctors, they should be teachers, but not mathematicians. I found myself somewhere in the middle with my math teaching profession; not rebel, but not either comforter.  I found this book as a very powerful one. At least it moved my ground! And I was standing so st...
1 comment
Read more

Aspiring Habit + Reflective Writing

  Hello! How are you? How has your week been? I've noticed that I'm writing every Sunday, and there is an interesting implication of repeating tasks. Namely, "According to a 2009 study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit" (Frothingham, 2019). Well, numbers... I'll have to do some calculations around it hehe. So, that means if I continue doing this for the next four months (since 18 divided by 4 monthly Sundays is approximately 4) and the upper number of 254 Sundays, which could mean around 4 years and 7 months (if I divide by 55 weeks per year), I would make this blogging my habit. Oh well, maybe hehe. Now, I want to talk about my reflective assignments in my PIDP courses. I came to the realization that these writings could see the light of day. So, I will be sharing my reflective assignments from my courses. I believe they are well thought out and easy to read, so blog it is! 😆 The firs...
Post a Comment
Read more