Books that support maths and numeracy

Board Books & Picture Books

Counting Books
  • Counting Creatures, by Julia Donaldson & Sharon King-Chai
  • 10 Dogs, by Emily Gravett
  • You Can't Count on Dinosaurs, by Philip Ardagh & Elissa Elwick
  • We all went on Safari: a counting journey through Tanzania, by Laurie Krebs & Julia Cairns
  • How Many Legs? by Yes Gray & Jim Field
  • The "Ten Little..." series by Mike Brownlow & Simon Rickerty
Books About Shapes & Numbers
  • Walter's Wonderful Web, by Tim Hopgood
  • The Perfect Fit, by Naomi Jones & James Jones
  • The Triangle/ Square/ Circle trilogy by Marc Barnett & Jon Klassen
  • A Hundred Billion Stars, by Seth Fishman & Isabel Greenberg
  • How big is a million? by Anna Milbourne & Serena Riglietti
Books About Various Maths Concepts
  • Martha Maps it Out, by Leigh Hodgkinson - maps
  • Isobel Adds it Up, by Kristy Everington & AG Ford (arithmetic)
  • Some of these are Snails, by Carter Higgins (sorting, quantifying)
  • Friends Beyond Measure, by Lalena Fisher (info graphics, data handling)
  • Wild Fibonacci: Nature's Secret Code, by Joy N. Hulme & Carol Schwartz (Fibonacci sequence)
  • Fractions in Disguise, by Edward Einhorn & David Clark (fractions)
  • Inside, Outside, Upside Down, by Stan & Jan Berenstain (position)
  • A very Improbable Story, by Edward Einhorn & Adam Gustavson (probability)
  • What's the Time, Mr Wolf, by Debi Gliori (time)
  • One Very Big Bear, by Alice Briere-Haquet, Olivier Philipponneau & Raphaele Enjoy (size comparison)
  • Equal, Shmequal, by Virginia Kroll & Philomena O'Neill (weighing & measuring)
  • The Sir Cumference series by Cindy Neuschwander & Wayne Geehan (the series covers various maths concepts)
  • Count on Me, by Miguel Tanco (mentions various maths concepts)
  • Molly and the Mathematical Mystery, by Eugenia Cheng & Aleksandra Artymowska (mentions various maths concepts)
  • A Mathematician Like Me, by Dr Shini Somara & Nadja Sarell (mentions various maths concepts)
  • Ada Twist, Scientist, by Andrea Beaty & David Roberts (show relevance of maths in the world of work)
Picture Books About Mathematicians
  • The 'Little People, Big Dreams' series by Isabel Sanchez and various illustrators; includes e.g. Ada Lovelace and Alan Turing
  • Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman changed the course of two world wars, by Laurie Wallmark & Brooke Smart
  • Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code, by Laurie Wallmark & Katy Wu
  • Srinivasa Ramanujan: Friend of Numbers, by Priya Narayanan
  • Maryam's Magic: The Story of Mathematician Maryam Mirzakahni, by Megan Reid & Aaliya Jaleel
  • Counting on Katherine, by Helaine Becker & Dow Phumiruk
  • Hedy Lamarr's Double Life, by Laurie Wallmark & Katy Wu
  • What's Your Angle, Pythagoras? by Julie Ellis & Phyllis Hornung
  • Emmy Noether: The Most Important Mathematician You've Never Heard Of, by Helaine Becker & Kari Rust
  • The Boy Who Loved Maths: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdös, by Deborah Heiligman & LeUyen Pham

Chapter Books & Novels

  • Count, by Melvin Burgess (age 7+)
  • Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths, by Maisie Chan (age 8+)
  • The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster (age 8+)
  • The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure, by Hans Magnus Enzensberger (author), Rotraut Susanne Berger (illustrator) & Michael Henry Heim (translator) (age 8+)
  • Ruby Redford: Feel the Fear, by Lauren Child (age 9+)
  • A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle (age 9+)
  • The Jamie Drake Equation, by Christopher Edge (age 9+)
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon (age 10+)
  • I, Ada: Rebel. Genius. Visionary. by Julia Gray (age 12+)
  • White Rabbit, Red Wolf, by Tom Pollock (age 14+)
  • An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green (age 14+)
  • The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss, by Amy Noelle Parks (age 14+)
  • My Mechanical Romance, by Alexene Farol Follmuth (age 14+)

Maths Adventure Books

  • The Maths Quest series, by David Glover
  • The Superquesters series, by Lisa Moss, Thomas Bernard & Amy Wilcox

Poetry

  • Nine: A Book of Nonet Poems, by Irene Latham & Amy Huntington (age 5+)
  • Einstein: The Girl Who Hated Maths, by John Agard & Satoshi Kitamura (age 6+)

Graphic Novels

  • The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, by Sydney Padua (age 11+)

Non Fiction Books

  • Just a Second, by Steve Jenkins (age 4+)
  • Look Inside Maths, by Rosie Dickens (age 4+)
  • How many mice make an elephant? and other big questions about size and distance, by Tracey Turner & Aaron Cushley (age 6+)
  • 100 Things to Know About Numbers, Computing & Coding, by various authors & illustrators (age 8+)
  • The 'Murderous Maths' series, by Kjartan Posit (age 8+)
  • Mathematics for Beginners, by Sarah Hull, Tom Murray & Paul Boston (age 8+)
  • What's the Points of Maths? by DK books (age 8+)

Maths Activity & Puzzle Books

  • This Book Thinks You're a Maths Genius, by Mike Goldsmith (age 7+)
  • Don't Mess with Maths, by Anna Claybourne (age 8+)
  • Maths Art and Drawing Games for Kids, by Karyn Tripp (age 8+)
  • This is not a Maths Book, by Anna Weltman (age 10+)
  • Puzzles for Spies, from GCHQ (age 10+)

Latest News and Events

News

Maths Week 2024 - Tales Highlights

We have enjoyed seeing what everyone got up to for Maths Week Scotland this year, in particular the different ways everyone was inspired by this year's theme of 'Maths Tales'. We've picked out a few highlights to share.

News

Scottish Museums Day 2024

For Scottish Museums Day (3 October) we’ve rounded up some of our favourite activities from museums from across the country, from this year's Maths Week Scotland.

7th Nov
Event

Escape Room Live Lesson: Find the Secret Lair!

Online (MS Teams) | | Free

Join us for this interactive online live lesson event aimed at upper primary and lower secondary students, hosted by Data Education in Schools at the University of Edinburgh.