Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream

by Liza Woodruff

In the fifth book in the series, complemented by humorous illustrations and including a section of educational suggestions for parents and teachers, Amanda Bean resists her teacher's efforts to teach her multiplication until she has an amazing dream.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, Multiplication, 1st Grade, Education, Stem

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

I grew up in Bristol, Rhode Island. As the youngest of three in my family, I was content watching, listening, daydreaming, and drawing. My love of art took a long and meandering path on the way to children's publishing. I scooped ice cream, worked as a camp counselor, waited tables at a dude ranch, and operated a chairlift at a ski resort. At one point I even hoped to become a veterinarian! But none of these things gave me the satisfaction I longed for.

Already having earned a BA in art and French, I finished a second degree in illustration at the Art Institute of Boston (now Lesley University College of Art and Design). During that time, I began an internship at children's book review magazine The Horn Book which focused my broad interest in art onto the wonderful illustration of children's books. Upon graduation, I dove into publishing. To date, I have illustrated twenty-four books for children!
​
It had long been a dream of mine to write my own stories. After many years as an illustrator, I tried my hand at writing. I have now authored three picture books: EMERSON BARKS/Christy Ottaviano Books/Holt 2016, A QUIETER STORY/Margaret Ferguson Books/Holiday House in 2019, and ONCE UPON A WINTER DAY/Margaret Ferguson Books/Holiday House in 2020 which was selected as one of Bank Street College of Education's Best Books of 2020. 2024 will see the publication of my fourth picture book, PHIL'S BIG DAY/Margaret Ferguson Books/Holiday House.

My home is in Vermont, nestled between the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain. Nature is a big part of my life and when not working in my studio, I can be found on the lake, on the side of a mountain, or deep in the woods with my family and/or two dogs.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amanda Bean is an amazing little girl who loves to count. She is so keen on it that she feels it is a MUST anytime a collection of items crosses her path. However, even when she is asked to consider multiplication, she shies away, not entirely sure of all its rules. Her counting is astounding, but it takes up much of her time. After an intense dream of counting, Amanda wonders if she ought to learn the ins and outs of multiplication, if only to ease the burden on her mind. Neo got a kick out of all the things that Amanda had to count. As he is still learning the basics of adding, I won't toss out anything too complicated yet. Still, learning his square and cube roots could make him the talk of school... right?!

[Ashley Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amanda Bean counts everything! But when things start to really add up, Amanda needs to act fast! This engaging mathematical adventure is designed to show multiplication principles in a tangible way. 5 stars!

[🎲🎧❤️CHanCE💔🎼🎲 · Rating 5 out of 5]

She started to count sheep so she could get smarter

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Amanda Bean is a girl who LOVES to count! Sometimes, though, she can't count fast enough. One day, her teacher suggests multiplication. She resists until she has a dream--an amazing dream!
2. Grades 2-3
3. Math, Carpet Read
4. Students who like counting will like this book.
5/6. This is a great book to use for introducing multiplication at the end of 2nd grade or the beginning of 3rd grade.
7. Multiplying Menace, The Doorbell Rang
8. Read-Aloud versions on YouTube

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

In another mood, or if I had a child struggling with multiplication, I might round this up to four stars. I like the playful illustrations, the 'diverse rep.' the three pages of notes at the end.* But really it's just another math book for educators... and it's an example of my pet peeve. Arithmetic is just a tiny bit of math, and a bean counter or even a Rainman savant is not a mathematician. Math is logic, probability, geometry, statistics, topology, deduction, etc. etc. and from this book I have no idea if Amanda will be interested in anything other than quick counting.

That being said, arithmetic is important. *And one of the activities at the end, "Which Has More," gives a clue. "Which has more wheels--5 tricycles or 7 bicycles?" Being familiar with the times table will help a grocery shopper quickly estimate whether 15 oz for $1.70 is a better deal than 22 oz for $2.50 or not, and a person can save hundreds of dollars shopping with that strategy of care.

I will look for more arithmetic and math books by the authors.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you write a book specifically around a math concept, it gets the math point across, but it isn’t the most amazing story in the world. Amanda Bean likes to count things, but she discovers that counting one by one isn’t fast enough in certain situations. I like that this book really brings out that multiplication is more efficient than counting one by one. I couldn’t get my class last year to believe that for the life of me. Nothing made multiplication important to them. Maybe this would have helped them see it and to see real world opportunities to use multiplication.

[Katie Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amanda Bean is a girl who loves to count. She will count sweaters, sheep, and anything she can. This whole book would be great for children who have trouble counting or are learning to count. Amanda eventually runs into multiplication at the end of the book, but she will save that for another time! I liked this book and the teachings behind it. I think it would be very helpful in an early development stage for children.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is all about Amanda Bean. She loves to count everything, but what happens when you need to count fast? One night while falling asleep, some friendly sheep give her a hint: when you love to count but you need to count fast, multiply! Children and adults will like this somewhat silly but still super-educational book that makes the connection between addition and multiplication (and the practical applications of multiplication) clear.

[Vo Khon · Rating 4 out of 5]

MULTIPLY and why we have to do it.
Story about a girl like counting but not multiplying.
Then she realized multiply is faster.
At the end of this book show how to teach children multiply.
_ Multiply is repeated adding or a table with row and collum.
_ Beginning with 2s, 5s, 10s then 3s,6s and others.
_ Ask them How many candy are there in the ... bla bla like that.
In this book has many many pictures to ask like that.

[Megan Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was really well done! It highlights many of the important aspects of multiplication and how often it is used in daily life. I also really liked the activity ideas in the back of the book to introduce in an actual math class. I think they would really help students understand how much more beneficial multiplying is versus counting each individual item.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amanda likes to count everything. She loves the simple act of counting and resists learning multiplication facts. Then she has dreams where she can't keep up with simple counting so figures out she needs to learn her facts just as her teacher said. The illustrations are humorous and readers will appreciate another Amanda Bean story.

[Courtney Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picture Book: I think it would be good to read this to your students if you are starting a hard concept in math. I think it will help them believe in themselves, and they might even start dreaming about math.

[Courtney Heard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book being a math nerd! I think it provided a fun way for kids to learn and represent how to multiply and add mathematical problems in everyday life.

Six + 1Traits: presentation, idea
DRA Level: 24
Lexile: AD520L

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun, interactive book about a young girl learning multiplication. I think this would be a great book to help young learners as it would keep them engaged and has riddles included for children to answer based off of their multiplication skills.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute! Great way to help those students who like repeated addition embrace multiplication.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute math storybook.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will definitely be using this in my class this year!

[Ron Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only does a great job at introducing kids to math but gives advice to parents as well.

[Lucca · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dd liked this book because there was a girl as the main character. We liked the illustrations. There was also fun with math and funny sheep.

[Lynnea (Juv) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book to show why you need to learn your multiplication facts - in a very fun way!

[Serena Keene · Rating 5 out of 5]

40 pages I read this book. A great little book to teach kids everyday math and how counting may take to long to get the same answer as multiplying

[David DuMond · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the emphasis on math may be heavy handed, it is a useful book to help explain a large concept to young 1st graders.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amanda Bean is obsessed with counting. LOL

[Christina Attaway]

Amanda Bean is a girl with alot of great adventures she has had a lot of great dreams comparing to math she has tryed to culculate all of her math usive steps. I think that she is a great person with alot of insperation and idea's also dreams. She has showed examples of how her dreams had showed that math was a great idea to show how much things cost and how much money you would get back when you buy the iteams that you want to buy. I think that in my prediction that Amanda Bean has alot of great ideas and also alot of great presintations that she should show or that she might show. I think that Amanda Bean is a great insperation to people and chldren and that she should rite more stories and ideas about herself. I thought that "Amanda Beans Amazing Dream" is a great book and a easy book for children and adults to read she need to try to make her stories a lot harder and difficult. She is a great insperation to me which is my opionion others have diffrent opinions about her. I didn't see a lot of facts in the story but they were fact there and details that support her facts. I don't really see other books about Amanda Bean I have only seen this perticular book and I have tthought that maybe in life that I would write books like Amanda Bean.

[Ruth Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a simple story about a young girl who loves to count but is reluctant to memorize her multiplication facts. After a dream with some active sheep, Amanda comes to realize that multiplication is much more efficient and faster than counting or repeated addition.

The best part about this book is that the readers come to visualize multiplication. There are many groups to see - trays of baked goods, kitchen tiles, books on shelves, and sheep on bicycles!

At the end of the book, the great Marilyn Burns has included some activities and explanations for parents and teachers. She stresses the importance of helping children build a concept of multiplication rather than requiring them to memorize information that they don't understand. Knowing how multiplication can be used in everyday life makes the connection for kids.

[Madison Bopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would use this book in a 3rd grade class when learning multiplication. There is a section at the end of the book that provides riddles for students to determine which has more. For example, "Which has more wheels—5 tricycles or 7 bicycles?" or "Which has more cookies—3 rows with 8 cookies in each row or 4 rows with 6 cookies in each row?" or "Which has more panes—a window with 5 rows and 4 panes in each row or a window with 3 rows and 6 panes in each row?" I would have students solve these riddles, and then they would create their own math riddles. Students will be allowed to work together in small groups during this activity.

[Molly Robbins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book because it not only talks about multiplication, but it goes into further detail by explaining how you count the number of rows and columns and how you come to multiply. It gives you a bunch of different examples of where you could use this strategy and use other names besides rows and columns (ex: books and shelves at the library). It has a little girl trying to multiply but instead, she ends up counting every single object instead of using simple multiplication. This would be a good activity to use manipulatives to get them to create their own array's when solving different problems.

[Julia B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved using this book in my classroom. It's used as a great intro to multiplication as equal sized groups. I plan on using it the same way I did last year - as a Read Aloud to segue into having my students count out beans into equal size groups and then glue these beads onto construction paper. My students then write out the repeated addition and multiplication sentences represented by the beans. Hopefully this coming year I can turn this into a center for my students, as well, especially for students who need the extra practice.

[Lauren Owens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good transition from repeated addition to multiplication. She realizes it takes too long to repeatedly add big numbers and eventually moves into multiplication. During the book the students could try to keep up with Amanda's repeated addition. Chances are one student is going to see that multiplication would be easier and a discussion can be started with that. Practicing multiplication next to repeated addition would be a nice way to transition with this book into multiplication.
Recommended grade level: 2

[Amber Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is about a girl named Amanda Bean who loves to count EVERYTHING...the only problem is she counts everything one by one. It wasn't a problem for her when she had to count small amounts of objects, but when she got to larger amounts, that's when realized the problem. Her teacher tries to convince her about a better way to add things up, but she doesn't want to take his advice until she has an AMAZING DREAM! This is a great book to use in the classroom for third grade students to introduce them to multiplication.