Middle School Math and Literature

Using literature at home or in your middle school math class is a great way to engage students and reduce math anxiety.

In a recent blog post, I shared with you my reasons for incorporating literature into my math class. (you can read that here) I also shared some of my favorite stories for k-5.

Today, let's look at some good math storybooks for middle school and above.

 My favorite math story for middle school students is The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Originally published in German, this story is about a boy named Robert who suffers from math anxiety.  His anxiety manifests in his dreams as he sleeps.  Over the course of twelve dreams, the Number Devil teaches Robert mathematical principles.  Robert is then able to use his newfound math skills and confidence in school.

I am also a BIG fan of the Sir Cumference series. There are now 9 books in this series, all do a good job introducing and explaining geometry terms and principles. The first one, Sir Cumference and the First Round Table by Cindy Neuschwander, remains at the top of my list. Previous to reading this story, many of my students mixed up the diameter and radius of a circle. After reading the book, we decided that since Lady Di was taller than her son Radius, the diameter of a circle was longer than the radius. 😃

Here are several other books my students and I have enjoyed reading to help our understanding of the mathematics we are learning.

Hopefully, this post inspires you to pick up a good story and learn some new math with the kids in your life.

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission on qualified purchases at no additional cost to you.

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