If You Were a Plus Sign

Math Fun

by Trisha Speed Shaskan, Francesca Carabelli (Illustrator)

What could you do if you were a plus sign? You could add things together. You could add people and animals. You could add up and down or side to side. Discover even more answers in this installment of the bestselling MATH FUN series by Trisha Speed Shaskan! With creative examples, easy-to-understand text, and engaging art, these entertaining and educational picture books books are perfect for young math lovers to read aloud or read alone.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens

24 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 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

[midnightfaerie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Educational, but boring. Was excited to read this then very disappointed. Nothing captivated me about this book. Anyone can list equations on each page. The short stories to make the addition more interesting didn't have a lot of thought behind it and even the illustrations were mediocre. My 5-yr-old was past this and bored after the first page, and I didn't think it was even worth trying to show to my 2-yr-olds.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate books like this for their educational value, but I feel like it could have been a little more fun to read. The concepts were solid, but in my opinion, it left much to be desired on the engagement scale for children.

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book explains addition by showing how objects, numbers, or groups of things can be combined using the plus sign to make a sum. The story adds people, animals, food, and different toys to show the way that addition groups those things. The combination of the powerful illustrations and connections to real-life examples of items is a great way for children to make connections to addition and see the way that we use addition in our daily lives!

[Elizabeth Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really loved these, i think i read 4 of them, were there more? any who ... great illustrations. well done. i am such a fan ... great for folks who need math explanations that are easily followed. i am 42 and i love a fresh bit of new view or look at it ... so fun to look back and recall your math life.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book for introducing or reinforcing the concept of addition in a child-friendly format. Entertaining picture examples and a little quiz at the end were cute additions. We enjoyed reading this book as part of our summer reading in preparation for 1st grade.

[Michelle Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great for us. We just started addition. This helps explain the plus sign really well. Also, introduces other terms used in mathematical equations. This was read right after our math lesson for the day.

[Fahula · Rating 4 out of 5]

The kids love these silly, colourful illustrations. The book is a good introduction to the basic concepts involved in addition. It also acts as a good introduction to solving word problems involving addition.

[Nita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book and my kiddos do too!

[Gretchen Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute!

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this picture book. It was the perfect level for my kindergartener. It wasn't overwhelming for her and it made working on addition fun.

[Kristiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very basic

[Jennifer Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very informational book. There was not a lot of story, but a lot of information about the math concept. This book is filled with addition problems and questions. One of the things that I really liked about this book was that it showed math equation using the traditional algorithm method as well as the horizontal method. There were also questions included so that the students could be engaged and actively participate.

[Khadija Bensaadoun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that shows how a plus sign is used in different situations that involve addition. The last page of the book has a page where the reader can review several addition problems. Activity: the students can go through the book and change the number sentences into subtraction problems. Grade: 1-4.

[Lorraine Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good for a math lesson on addition. It has examples of addition problems, using the traditional algorithm and also the horizontal method. Mainly adds single digit numbers together. It creates simple word problems and equations it has a glossary of terms in the back and also has helpful web sites to future explore. Can be used as a workstation or as an introduction to odd numbers.

[Karan Johnstone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the key words for addition. It also shows word problems and how to solve them. It adds different thing together to get the sum of them. This would be a good book for early elementary students or any student who needs to learn the key words for addition.
Text to text comparison. Have them compare the book to Math Fables.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice non-fiction that reads as a story. A great introduction to Addition. It give further reading at the back and an activity to follow up what you learned. K+

[Johannes Kristian · Rating 2 out of 5]

MCL.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

490 - 2012

[Krupal Morjaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for younger children who are still trying to understand what a plus sign is. This book demonstrates what exactly a plus sign is and all of the tasks that a plus sign has.

[Lee Atiknson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story

Good way to sneak in a little math with story time, but there isn't much connecting the characters (other than the plus sign, of course).