Suggested Reading For Older Students

 A few days ago, I wrote about certain reading techniques to help students accomplish deeper reading but most of the time, we tend to think about applying them to textbooks but what about fiction.  I am aware that it is easy to find picture books and books made for elementary kids but many high schoolers wouldn't want to read those.  Today, I'm providing a list of books for middle school and high school that are math oriented but real books.

1.  The Math Inspector 5 book series by Daniel Kenny and Emily Boever, and good for students aged 9 and above or 3rd grade and above.  I'm starting here because I usually have a couple of students in class who do read that low and struggle to read the textbook.  The books are between 150 and 200 pages long and every book in the series has received between 4 and 5 stars on Amazon.  The book involves several young friends who banded together to start their own detective agency where they investigate a jewelry store heist, serial vandalism, a toy store mess-up, trying to save a roller coaster, and a mine.  These detectives use their math skills to ultimately solve the crime.  The books can be found in hard back and e-book form.

2.  The 3 volume Math kids series rated for upper elementary is another one to look at for students who read well below grade level.  The stories revolve round three students who make up the advanced math group in their class and they form a math club where they solve mysteries. They solve a case on neighborhood burglaries, a kidnapping, and a theft.  This series also received between 4 and 5 stars on Amazon.

3. Do the Math Series is a two book series for older students. The first is Do the Math: Secrets, Lies, and Algebra  and the second is Do the Math: The Writing on the Wall  both by Wendy Lichtman. In the first book, an eight grader begins Algebra and faces one missing test, three cheaters, and a math whiz make Tess's live interesting as she learns about life and variables.  The second one shows Tess that life is filled with patterns including the patterns of graffiti found on the walls.  These books are recommended for middle school to high school. These books are rated between 4 and 5 stars according to Amazon.

4. The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger contains 12 dreams telling of how a math hating young man meets the number devil and learns more about math.  He learns about prime numbers, infinite numbers, Fibonacci numbers, and so many other numbers.  This book is geared for middle school but would work for high school students and has between 4 and 5 stars according to Amazon.

5. The Man Who Counted , written by Brazilian mathematician Malba Tahan.  The main character, Bermiz Sahir show the reader how math can be used to settle disputes, give advice, and in the process learn about historical mathematicians.  These short stories are considered to be similar to Arabian tales and each one shares something with the reader.  This book is rated between 4 and 5 stars on Amazon.

6. Humble Pi: A Comedy of Math Errors by Matt Parker for students who read at a higher level.  In this book, the author examines situations where the incorrectly done math cause issues.  He shows how no one notices the math until it is done incorrectly such as when a misplaced decimal caused problems with the stock market, or when someone converted measurements incorrectly so a plane crashed or someone divided by zero causing a ship to stop in the middle of the ocean.

Think about having a few of these in the classroom for those days that your period is shortened due to a last minute assembly, or you have a regularly scheduled short period you can't use for much else.  These would be good for practicing the skills they learn in English but in Math.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.