MathFiction: Nena's Math Force (Susan Jarema)

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Nena's Math Force (2005)

Susan Jarema
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This picture book for children, which is available for free online and also in print, tells the story of a girl who is upset when her math teacher requires the class to do arithmetic without a calculator. Her uncle, a wizard named El Mundo, and a team of expert witnesses including Archimedes, Galileo, Da Vinci, Mozart and Cleopatra argue that in math, it is important to understand what you're doing and to be able to do some basic mental computation.

Contributed by Anonymous

The plot seems extremely forced and the narrative is rather preachy. The story was quite dull for my students. The pictures weren't very interesting either.

More information about this work can be found at www.googolpower.com.
(Note: This is just one work of mathematical fiction from the list. To see the entire list or to see more works of mathematical fiction, return to the Homepage.)

Works Similar to Nena's Math Force

According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:

The Number Devil (Der Zahlenteufel) by Hans Magnus Enzensberger
A Gebra Named Al by Wendy Isdell
Lost in Lexicon: An Adventure in Words and Numbers by Pendred Noyce
Little Zero the Seafarer [Captain One's frigate] by Vladimir Levshin
Three Days in Karlikania by Vladimir Levshin
Jayden's Rescue by Vladimir Tumanov
The Heroic Adventures of Hercules Amsterdam by Melissa Glenn Haber
The Mouse and his Child by Russell Hoban
Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier
Harvey Plotter and the Circle of Irrationality by Nathan Carter / Dan Kalman

Ratings for Nena's Math Force:

Ratings

Have you seen/read this work of mathematical fiction? Then click here to enter your own votes on its mathematical content and literary quality or send me comments to post on this Webpage.

Mathematical Content:
4/5 (1 votes)

Literary Quality:
1/5 (1 votes)

Categories:

Genre	Fantasy, Children's Literature,
Motif	Math as Beautiful/Exciting/Useful,
Topic	Algebra/Arithmetic/Number Theory,
Medium	Available Free Online, Picture Book,

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(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)