Times Tables the Fun Way Book for Kids: A Picture Method of Learning the Multiplication Facts

by Dave Rodriguez, Judy Rodriguez, Val Chadwick Bagley (Illustrator)

Memorization of the multiplication facts is fun and easy with this colorful and clever book of cartoons and stories. Children learn to associate the numbers with the characters in the story. To teach 4x4, the story tells about Bart who loves to go hang gliding and can't wait until he turns 16 so he can get his driver's license and drive his 4 by 4. Children easily remember once the story is learned. The caption below the story says: Remember: you have to be 16 to drive a 4x4.

There are cartoons and stories for all the difficult facts, ie. the 3's, 4's, 6's, 7's, and 8's. Tricks are are used to teach the easier ones ie. 1's, 2's, 5's, and 9's. Kids love the stories and will never forget "You have to be 16 to drive a 4 by 4, (4x4). Over 500,000 copies have been sold to schools in the US since 1992.

Genres: Childrens, Nonfiction

88 pages, Spiral-bound

First published April 1, 1999

Reviews

[Deborah Gallo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I taught resource special education for 17 1/2 years. Back when I taught, I had the flexibility to select curriculum I thought would meet the needs of my students. Times Tables the Fun Way was a resource I used with my special education students. We did a story a day. I used visuals to help my students remember the stories and slowly took away those visuals.

I left the teaching in 2006 to work with schools and families to identify student that require special education services. Today I was corresponding with a former student. One of the things she wrote was, “I still remember when two 6s go walking in the Desert they are “thirsty six’s” 6x6=36 lol 😂”. That was a good 20ish years ago that she was in my class. Times tables the fun way works.

[Aleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

My little guy was in 4th grade and struggling with his multiplications, which he was supposed to have learned the year before. He just couldn't memorize them, and was super discouraged. I stumbled upon this awesome book while looking for anything that might help. To be honest, I didn't think it was going to work, because the book seemed rediculous to me, but I was desperate so we gave it a try. When I introduced it to my son, something magical happened. He could remember the narrative and the picture, which in turn gave him the answer. Turns out memorizing facts are not his forte, but memorizing stories and images worked much better for his learning style.

[Israel Waltz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Informational Non-Fiction
Grade: Primary - Middle Grades

This is one of my favorite books explaining multiplication. It makes Multiplication "Fun" (in the title) for me when I was a kid. its fun short stories about multiplication are memorable and helpful when a student is having trouble memorizing facts.Its illustrations also help the stories to be the memorial. I recommend this to EVERY teacher who has a struggling student and in fact, is one of the only books I have that I am keeping for my future classroom.

[Trish Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend of mine who has a son with Asperger’s recommended this book to me. Although he is incredibly smart, he was stuck on learning his times tables, but with this book he had them down almost instantly. I decided to give this a try myself and see how Michael would like it.

Turns out he loved it! He enjoyed the little tricks they give for certain numbers, such as calling “0″ the king because he wants everyone to be like him or calling “1″ a mirror because any number sees itself. He also liked the stories that they made up for the harder to remember facts. I was impressed with how appealing the book was and was very glad that he enjoyed it. And multiplication seems to be going quite smoothly, which is a good thing!

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Times Tables the Fun Way Book for Kids: A Picture Method of Learning the Multiplication Facts
Rodriguez, Dave
just found this yesterday. .. its an interesting way of teaching math to learners who can not memorize facts of multiplication. .. i am amazed how it worked for the student i worked with today as she shouted out the codes with out the background story.... 8 x 8= snowman..... 64....

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across this book just recently and thought it would be handy for my 7 yr old grandson. My grandson has learning difficulties, especially where maths is concerned. On the outset it looked the ideal book with good little stories, but there are too many to remember. I can see my grandson getting more confused, so will go back to the way I was taught years ago.

[Beatrix Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. Just as fun as it promises to be. My kids love it.

[Sharper1 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Might work for kids, but mind-numbingly awful to read. I would not be able to read this, even in tutoring, without rolling my eyes