1. Kristin Rodriguez
Book Talk
Book: Tang, G. (2002). The Best of Times. NY. Scholastic Press. Illustrated by Harry Briggs.
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction.
Grade Level: 3rd
Access Features: Author’s note, Headings.
Organization: This book uses sequential organization.
Synopsis: If you need help learning your multiplication tables, this is the book for you. This
book has a fun and easy rhyme to help you remember the rules of multiplication starting from
zero all the way up to the number ten. This book is bright and colorful with great illustrations.
The pictures are of silly animals to make things even more exciting and memorable. This is a
great alternative to the monotonous memorization. If you are only in need of a review this book
can help you too. The last couple of pages breaks down each number and shows you how the
riddle works mathematically for extra practice. With this book anyone can learn their “times
tables.”
Reading Strategy: The Tea Party Strategy. The teacher will make one copy of each page for the
numbers zero to ten. Have students go around to each station in small groups or pairs. They will
reread and review one page at each station. Then have the students take turns asking each other
multiplication questions of that number. Rotate around the room until every student goes to
every station and reread every page and has a chance to practice their multiplication tables from
zero to ten.
Additional Activity: The students can choose their favorite number and rewrite the riddle that
goes along with it. Then they can draw their own pictures to help them remember the riddle.
Recommendation: This is a great book to bring in after the students have been introduced to
multiplication for the first time. While students will eventually memorize their times tables, this
is a good book to help them understand the math behind them. For the struggling students this
book will offer a good visual and another trick to figuring out their times table until they can
memorize it.

2. Kristin Rodriguez
Book Talk
Book: Schwartz, D. (2003). MILLIONS TO MEASURE. NY. Harper Collins. Illustrated by
Steven Kellogg
Genre: Juvenile nonfiction.
Grade Level: 4-6
Access Features: Sidebars, inset sections, afterword, pictures of all the items being measured are
shown to help understand the size of the unit.
Organization: This book is organized chronologically.
Synopsis: This is a book with Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician. Some children want
to have a race but don’t know how to decide where to race to, so they ask Marvelosissimo. The
math magician takes them on a fun journey back through time to see how people long ago
decided how to measure things. They learn about what people first used to measure distance,
height, weight, volume, etc. The children learn about depending on the item they are measuring
they may use different units of measurement. They also learn how these units relate to each
other, such as kilo and kilogram. If you want to see where all the measurements that you’ve
heard about came and how to use them, this is the book for you!
Reading Strategy: KWL. This strategy could be done as a class or individually. Create a three-
column chart. The first column should be labeled with a “K” for “Know” the second with a “W”
for “Want to know” and the last with “L” for “Learned.” So first write down everything you
know about measurement. List all the types of measurements that you can think of. Describe
when those measurements are used. Then come up with at least three questions that you would
like to know about measurements. Then once the book is read, see if any of your questions were
answered. Then make a new list under the learned column of five new things about measurement
that were learned.
Additional Activity: Have the students go around the room and estimate to the nearest inch how
tall they think any ten items are. Then have them check their estimations with a ruler. Then
convert your measurement to centimeters. Be sure they create an organized chart to store all their
data.
Recommendation: After reading this book as a class I would spend several lessons learning all
the different types of measurements. I also think including a lot of hands on measuring in the
different units of measurement will be the most beneficial in getting the students to understand
them all.