If You Were a Fraction

Math Fun

by Trisha Speed Shaskan

If you were a fraction, you be part of a whole. You could be part of a pizza or part of pie. You could be part of an apple or part of a pear. What else could you be if you were a fraction? This colorful picture book describes fractions in a way that makes learning math fun!

Genres: Mathematics, Childrens

24 pages, Library Binding

First published July 15, 2008

About the author

As an author of 50 books for children, Trisha Speed Shaskan carries her childhood dreams into her adult life. With the upcoming picture book Trisha wrote THE ITTY-BITTY WITCH illustrated by Xindi Yan, Trisha celebrates Halloween, magic, brooms, witches, and self-empowerment. Trisha is also the author of the picture book PUNK SKUNKS and graphic novel series Q & RAY, which are illustrated by her husband Stephen Shaskan. When Trisha isn't writing stories, she loves to laugh, travel, and spend time with her dog Beatrix and husband Stephen.

Reviews

[Jo Oehrlein]

Ugh. This is an awful book for clarity about fractions.

"If you were a fraction, you would be one or more equal parts of a whole." So...., improper fractions (i.e., fractions greater than 1) aren't fractions? So, 4/3 isn't a fraction?

"If you were a fraction, you could be divided into three equal parts. You would be thirds." The WHOLE is divided into 3 equal parts to make thirds. Thirds isn't a fraction. 1/3 is a fraction. 2/3 is a fraction. 3/3 is a fraction. Thirds isn't a fraction. [Repeat this complaint for halves and fourths and eighths]

"If you were a fraction, you could be part of a set. A set is a group that has something in common." ????? This doesn't really mean anything. This whole two-page spread adds nothing.

The comparison page uses fractions to compare something when whole numbers would do as well (why compare 1/6, 2/6, and 3/6 when you're really saying one got 1 cookie, one got 2 cookies, and one got 3 cookies?).

[Jessie]

There's poor/incorrect phrasing all through this. It often seems like a sentence is saying that you are a whole being split into n pieces and then that you are a 1/n piece.

Fractions less than 0 or greater than 1 aren't included in the definition of fraction here. There was also no need to use and define the word set if it wasn't going to be in the math sense.

A few good things: rectangles split in half two different ways, showing 2/3 and 3/4 made up of 1/3s and 1/4s.

Reduction is just stated, not discussed, and it's in an inappropriate context for that.

[Laura]

I think I liked this one better than the addition or the subtraction books. I liked how this book gave various examples of fractions beyond the round pizza or pie illustrations. It had moments that challenged my daughter to think about the concepts of fractions and to visualize them in different conceptual forms. Some of her thoughts went beyond the actual text of the book. Im glad there are picture books that children can experience the world of math beyond their textbooks and worksheets.

[Michelle Francis]

This series has nice illustrations and great examples of the math concept. In the back of the book, there are glossaries and an index. There are also activities for students. This would be a really nice addition to a concept introduction for elementary students.

[Korie Truitt]

I enjoyed this book. I think it is a great way to introduce fractions as a concept and how they exist in the world.

[Shauna]

I love reading this book to my students every year when teaching fractions (3rd grade classroom).

[Scott Roark]

Great intro to fractions. The book reiterates that if you were a fraction you would be part of a whole. I would take that concept and have students use it in an activity that uses hands on manipulatives such as the burger fraction, pizza fractions, fraction snap cubes and similar type objects. Use this book in addition to others for a complete look at the world of fractions. Students could write an example of how they are part of a whole when it comes to the class, their family, friends, etc.

[Bekkah Riecke]

I liked the different ways this book talked about fractions as both a mathematical concept and as a part of life. The ending, where the book mentions being part of a whole picture, made me think that this might also be a good book to use when there is a new student or at the beginning of the year. This would introduce some great math vocabulary while also making some necessary connections to the students being part of the whole class.

[Karan Johnstone]

This was a good book to explain fractions. It tells the definition of a fraction then it goes on to give different examples of fractions. the examples are cute and easy to see the difference between the different fractions.
Read-a-loud at the beginning of the fractions unit.

[Matthew]

This is a nice book for explaining fractions. It's part of a much larger series called If You Were... that covers many early math concepts as well as a lot of ELA terms. It's a simple, fast read that children are sure to understand and become enlightened by. My kind of book.

[Kyle Baldwin]

This book tells students if they were a fraction cut into 4 equal parts, then they would be fourths and so on. Then shows other examples like pies cut into eighths, etc.

[Ruth Harding]

Awesome book for teaching fractions! It's a must have!

[Indah Threez Lestari]

549 - 2013

[Keely]

I love this book for integrating math and literacy in the primary grades.