Thank you to teacher and Mathical Selection Committee member Fran Wilson’s 2nd grade students at Madeira City Schools in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio for the lovely book reviews of 2020 Mathical Award Winner Pigeon Math by Asia Citro, with illustrations by Richard Watson. You can find more from Fran and her students on Twitter @mrswilsons2nd.
Pigeon Math
By Asia Citro, illustrated by Richard Watson
Innovation Press, 2019
2020 Mathical Award Winner, Grades 3-5
Reviewers: Max & Jackson
Do you like pigeons, especially funny pigeons?! Oh, and math! Then cool! Read Pigeon Math. This book is about ten distracted pigeons on a wire but… things like bees, hunger, weather, and cats make the pigeons fly away and come back. When this happens the author has to do addition and subtraction. The illustrations hide math equations when a math problem comes along. The endpages hold crazy pigeons flying everywhere. This humorous book teaches young people about story problems. We recommend this book for kindergarten and up.
Reviewers: Alex & Vann
Flap, flap, flap! Ten pigeons are on the clothesline. The book is about pigeons coming and going. It helps the reader to understand addition and subtraction. When the cat comes the pigeons will jump on and off the clothesline. The weather will also change where the pigeons come and go. The colorful illustrations help tell the story. There are math equations to go with the illustrations. Pigeon Math is super funny. The endpages have pigeons flying around and having fun. We recommend this book for preschool children and up.
Reviewers: Elsie & Carter
Ten pigeons on the clothesline are doing some wacky things like eating, sun tanning, calling on phones, and riding on unicycles! The author is trying to tell the reader a simple counting story but the pigeons have other plans. They keep flying in and out of the scenes so the author has to keep telling new stories that involve adding and subtracting pigeons. But wait until the end because there’s a CAT ON THE CLOTHESLINE! The illustrations help tell the story. The endpages are a funny intro into this humorous book. We recommend this book for kindergarten and up.
Reviewers: Jesse & William
Do you want to read a funny story that involves pigeons and math? Pigeon Math is about a narrator that is trying to tell her counting story about pigeons but all the pigeons keep on flying away because of bad weather and one cat. So the narrator then tells a story of a number of pigeons sitting on a wire. The pigeons keep flying in and out of the pages and the narrator has to change the number of pigeons in her story. With each story the narrator tells, a math equation is on the page to go with the story. The pictures help the reader understand the math equations. The endpages have pigeons on them that are dancing all over the place. Will the pigeons ever let the narrator finish her story? Read to find out. We recommend this book for kindergarten and up.
Reviewers: Luna & Roz
PIGEONS! So if you’re wondering what Pigeon Math is we’ll tell you. It is a funny book. In this story the narrator is trying to tell a counting story but the pigeons keep flying in and out. So the narrator has to add and subtract. The narrator gives up and the pigeons try to cheer her up. But then it’s pigeon bedtime and the narrator ends the story. Caution! Pay attention to the illustrations. There are equations everywhere and the weather changes. We recommend this book for kindergarten and up.
Reviewer: Molly
Pigeons? Math? Yes, pigeon math! In this book the author is trying to tell a counting story but the pigeons have other plans. The pigeons keep coming and going and the weather keeps changing. So the author stops the story and says things like, “Ok four pigeons plus four is um…eight!” as more pigeons fly onto the clothesline. Sometimes the author has to subtract and says, “Um, ten minus six is…4,” as pigeons fly away. The colorful pictures help the reader to understand the math story problems that keep happening as the pigeons and the cat move about. This book is fun and super funny! I recommend this book for kindergarten and up!
Reviewers: Scarlett & Kaia
Do you like math? Well, I have just the right book for you. It’s called Pigeon Math. The endpages are full of energized pigeons. The book is mostly about a narrator who’s trying to tell a story but the pigeons are interrupting this counting story. They do crazy stuff like flying away when the narrator tries to tell the story. The story is interrupted when a big thunderstorm comes and by a cat that comes on the wire with the pigeons. Finally, it’s night and pigeon bedtime. Will the narrator be able to finish her story? The illustrations are bright colors. Look for the addition and subtraction equations that are hidden on the pages. This is a very funny book and we recommend it for kindergarten and up.
Thank you to all of our wonderful Mathical reviewers!