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The Absolute Value of Mike (2011) |
 | Kathryn Erskine |
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Mike is a fourteen-year-old with dyscalculia, but his father is a professional mathematician and is quite insistent that he should learn math and go to Newton High, the math magnet school. According to... (more) |
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An Abundance of Katherines (2006) |
 | John Green |
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Colin Singleton is a semi-burnt-out child prodigy who spends a summer coming of age as he develops a theorem to account for the fact that he's been dumped by nineteen girls, all named Katherine. Includes... (more) |
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The Amazing Spider-Man (Issues 555-557) (2008) |
|
| Zeb Wells (writer) / Chris Bachalo (penciller) |
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The issue of Amazing Spider-Man entitled "Sometimes it Snows in April" introduces a disheveled mathematician named Benjamin Rabin who appears to be the victim of an attempted assault. He explains to police... (more) |
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The Boy Who Reversed Himself (1986) |
|
| William Sleator |
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[William Sleator's The Boy Who
Reversed Himself is] a book catering to a preteen or early teen
audience about three high school students' adventures in 4-dimensional (and
higher) space. It includes... (more) |
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Calculated Risks (2021) |
|
| Seanan McGuire |
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In this sequel, Sarah must use her mathematical skills to rescue her cousins and a big chunk of Iowa State University from the dimension to which she banished them in Imaginary Numbers.
The Price family,... (more) |
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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (1955) |
|
| Jean Lee Latham |
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The life of early American mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch, famous for his work on techniques of navigation, is fictionalized in this novel for young adults. Although the mathematical details are not... (more) |
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Chasing Vermeer (2004) |
|
| Blue Balliet |
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A mystery novel for 6th graders. The first of a set of 3 separate “mystery” books in the “Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew“ genre. Two children, Calder and Petra, are neighbors and classmates... (more) |
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The Cinderella Theorem (2014) |
|
| Kristee Ravan |
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A very serious, mathematically inclined teenage girl is shocked to learn that her father is not dead as she had previously believed but rather is the ruler of an enchanted kingdom.
The no-nonsense,... (more) |
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The Code for Love and Heartbreak (2020) |
|
| Jillian Cantor |
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In this young adult adaptation of Jane Austen's "Emma", a high school student unsuccessfully attempts to use her knowledge of mathematics to create a matchmaking app for her classmates. It is yet another... (more) |
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Crimes and Math Demeanors (2007) |
|
| Leith Hathout |
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The short mysteries in this book remind me of "Encyclopedia Brown". After a brief description of a sometimes contrived dilemma facing our young detective -- 14 year old Ravi -- you are given an opportunity... (more) |
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Do the Math #2: The Writing on the Wall (2008) |
|
| Wendy Lichtman |
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In this sequel to Do the Math: Secrets, Lies and Algebra, a middle school student who likes to think of things in terms of mathematical notation (for example, calling her friend Miranda "|m|" because she... (more) |
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Do the Math: Secrets, Lies, and Algebra (2007) |
|
| Wendy Lichtman |
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A math-loving eighth grader applies mathematical concepts to problems in her social life.
According to the book jacket, the author has a degree in mathematics and writes pieces for many periodicals.... (more) |
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Double Digit (2014) |
|
| Annabel Monaghan |
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This cleverly titled sequel to A Girl Named Digit follows the continuing adventures of a young "math whiz" whose talents make her both a weapon against and a target of terrorists. (more) |
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Drop (2008) |
|
| Lisa Papademitriou |
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A mathematically talented high school student uses what appears to be psychic powers to beat the casinos in this novel for young adults. However, with the help of a math professor she begins to realize... (more) |
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End of Days (2011) |
|
| Eric Walters |
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Although it appears to the world as if many of the leading scientists and mathematicians coincidentally died during the same year, what actually happened to them in this YA novel is that they were kidnapped... (more) |
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Evil Genius (2005) |
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| Catherine Jinks |
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I am pleased to report that the titular "evil genius" in this children's novel is not the stereotypical cold mathematician in so many other works of mathematical fiction. In fact, the title character... (more) |
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Forever Changes (2008) |
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| Brendan Halpin |
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A very somber novel written for young adults about a mathematically talented teenager with cystic fibrosis. Her math teacher helps comfort her by making an analogy between the important role of the infinitesimals in calculus and the importance of even a short life. (more) |
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Geek Abroad (2008) |
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| Piper Banks |
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Miranda Bloom, the mathematical prodigy first introduced in Geek High returns in another novel for teenagers, this time emphasizing her participation in mathematical competitions. For instance, we see... (more) |
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Geek High (2007) |
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| Piper Banks |
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Miranda Bloom is a mathematically talented girl trying to deal with normal teenage problems (family, boys, etc.) Although mental calculations have always come easy to Miranda, she does not appear to be... (more) |
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Getting Somewhere (1995) |
|
| Jenny Pausacker |
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In this Australian novel for teenagers, a student who lives in the shadow of her twin is able to find her own identity and some self-respect with the help of a maths teacher. The teacher challenges her... (more) |
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A Girl Named Digit (2012) |
|
| Annabel Monaghan |
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A girl nicknamed "Digit" by her classmates because of her mathematical abilities and interests discovers a terrorist plot and begins working with the FBI to catch a double agent in this adventure aimed... (more) |
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Hannah, Divided (2002) |
|
| Adele Griffin |
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The story of a 13 year old girl living in rural Pennsylvania in 1934,
"Hannah" presents us with yet another fictional account of someone who is
not only talented in mathematics but also psychologically... (more) |
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The Heroic Adventures of Hercules Amsterdam (2003) |
|
| Melissa Glenn Haber |
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The plot focuses on a three inch tall boy who runs away from humans to live with mice, only to discover that the mice are regularly massacred by rats every seven years. The mice, however, cannot anticipate... (more) |
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A Higher Geometry (2006) |
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| Sharelle Byars Moranville |
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A teenage girl in the 1950's pursues her dream of becoming a mathematician in the American midwest over a background of sexism, romance and Cold War politics. This fictional account mirrors some of the... (more) |
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The Infinite Pieces of Us (2018) |
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| Rebekah Crane |
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Esther's family moves from California to New Mexico after she becomes pregnant while still in school. The main focus of this young adult novel is on her personal relationships (with the baby's father,... (more) |
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Invisibly Breathing (2019) |
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| Eileen Merriman |
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Felix Catalan, a teenager whose autistic tendencies make him unpopular in school, becomes romantically involved with another student whose stutter similarly makes him an outcast.
Like many other anti-social... (more) |
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Kayip Piramit - Sayilarin Izinde (2019) |
|
| Ahmet Baki Yerli |
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History of science professor Tahir Baturay has been trying for years to unravel the secrets of the Egyptian pyramids. However, despite all his attempts, he could not make any significant progress. On... (more) |
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Küplerin Savasi (2021) |
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| Ahmet Baki Yerli |
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This Turkish novel for young adults appears to be a fictionalized account of the dispute between Tartaglia and Cardano over the solution to cubic equations. A nice account of the true story can be found here in Quanta Magazine, but I'm afraid I do not know anything more about Yerli's book which so far has only been published in Turkish. (more) |
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A Little Mathematician - Katie (2002) |
|
| Tadashi Miura |
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A sweet little book by an author who wanted to be a math teacher and hopes he can "introduce the joy of learning mathematics to every student in this world through this story".
A little girl named Katie... (more) |
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Lost in Lexicon: An Adventure in Words and Numbers (2010) |
|
| Pendred Noyce |
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This novel for middle school aged children seems at first rather similar to the Phantom Tollbooth, which was apparently a source of inspiration for its author. The plot is familiar: a boy and girl travel... (more) |
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Magic or Madness (2005) |
|
| Justine Larbalestier |
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Fibonacci sequences and prime numbers have magical significance in the trilogy of young adult fantasy novels by Australian author Justine Larbalestier. Magic or Madness was the first book in the series, followed by Magic Lessons and Magic's Child.
(more) |
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The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021) |
|
| Lev Grossman |
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This short film is based on a short story by Lev Grossman is a repeat-the-same-day romcom that uses 2D projections of a tesseract as a plot point! I liked it even if it’s a little handwavy, and math... (more) |
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The Math Olympian (2015) |
|
| Richard Hoshino |
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A novel about a girl hoping to be on the Canadian team to the International Mathematical Olypmiad written by someone who should know what it is like. (FYI The author earned a silver medal as part of the... (more) |
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Mean Girls (2004) |
|
| Tina Fey (screenplay) /Mark S. Waters (director) |
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In this movie about teenage girls -- written by Tina Fey (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock) and inspired by the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes -- a previously home schooled student (played by Lindsay... (more) |
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The Midnighters (Series) (2004) |
|
| Scott Westerfield |
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Teenagers discover an extra hour to the day during which they can do things while everyone else is frozen. Unfortunately, they also have to worry about the Darklings!
One of the teens, Dess, is interested... (more) |
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Monster's Proof (2009) |
|
| Richard Lewis |
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With parents and a younger brother who are all "mathematical geniuses", Livey Ell (who is in danger of getting kicked out of cheerleading unless she improves her algebra grades) is a bit too normal. Things... (more) |
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The Mouse and his Child (1967) |
|
| Russell Hoban |
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Not really a kids book (too violent and depressing) nor an adult book
(about a toy mouse that goes on an adventure, with illustrations) this
is nonetheless an interesting allegory for those so inclined.... (more) |
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Nearly Gone (2015) |
|
| Elle Cosimano |
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Nearly Boswell has (obviously) a really cool name. She also has a strong interest in her science and math classes. And, for some reason, she also has the ability to taste emotions when she touches other... (more) |
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Night of the Eerie Equations (2015) |
|
| Robert Black |
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Another sequel to Night of the Paranormal Patterns about teenager Lennie Miller who solves middle-school mathematical problems for vampires, wizards, and other monsters. This time, she not only has to... (more) |
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Night of the Frightening Fractions (2015) |
|
| Robert Black |
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In this sequel to Night of the Paranormal Patterns, teenager Lennie Miller continues to solve mathematical problems to save her town from ghosts and zombies.
I haven't read this young adult novel. I hope to get a chance to do so someday and will post more information here if I do. Or, if you have read it, please write to let me know what you thought of it, and I'll post your review here!
(more) |
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Night of the Paranormal Patterns (2014) |
|
| Robert Black |
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A young adult novel that uses the fantasy adventure genre to introduce pre-algebra concepts. The protagonist, a seventh grader named Lennie, has been chosen as the "pattern finder" for werewolves, vampires... (more) |
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Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) (2006) |
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| Justina Chen Headley |
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This is a novel for young adults about a half Asian teenager who is sent to a summer Math Camp at Stanford by her overprotective mother. She enjoys the camp more than she expected to, until her mother... (more) |
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Number 9: The Search for the Sigma Code (1998) |
|
| Cecil Balmond |
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A young boy learns about mathematics while trying to solve a mathematical puzzle.
"As a teacher and Education Inspector in England I would rate
this book very highly. It is extremely well written... (more) |
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Proof Geometric Construction Can Solve All Love Affairs (2017) |
|
| Takahashi Manbou (lyricist) / Ane Manbou (illustrator) |
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This is not a short story or novel or movie, it is a music video by Japanese musician "Manbo-p" (featuring manga-style illustrations by his sister). As the title implies, it is a romance in which a boy... (more) |
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The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss (2021) |
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| Amy Noelle Parks |
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In this young adult romance, Evie Beckham is an extremely anxious teenager who loves math and attends a STEM magnet school. She is starting to get interested in dating, but is unaware that her longtime... (more) |
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Quaternia (2015) |
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| Tom Petsinis |
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Ivan, the main character in Tom Petsinis' Quaternia, is a fictional teenager who spends a lot of his time and energy on playing video games. Ivan goes beyond merely devoting so much time to this hobby... (more) |
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The Rithmatist (2013) |
|
| Brandon Sanderson |
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Geometric chalk drawings have magical power in this Harry Potter-like book for teens. In fact, it takes place in an "alternate universe" where Earth's history is different. Since "Rithmatics" was discovered... (more) |
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Saraswati's Way (1978) |
|
| Monika Schroder |
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This is a novel written for very young adults (age 10 or so). Chronicles a mathematically gifted young boy's search for resources and a tutor from whom he can learn more mathematics than his local teachers... (more) |
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The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods (1998) |
|
| Ann Cameron |
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(A preteen novel, obscurely set in the 50s, only skimmed by
me. I was attracted by the Moebius strip on the cover of the
Scholastic edition. It was a National Book Award finalist, I
presume... (more) |
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The Shadow Guests (1980) |
|
| Joan Aiken |
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After his mother's death, a boy goes to live with his aunt, a
mathematician, in her haunted English house where he meets the ghosts of his ancestors and learns about his family's curse. The mathematician... (more) |
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She is Not Invisible (2013) |
|
| Marcus Sedgwick |
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In this young adult thriller, a blind teenager and her younger brother search for their missing father, a successful author obsessed with coincidence and the number 354. Although the approach is more supernatural and numerological than mathematical, there is also some flavor of probability and discussion of such things as Benford's Law.
(more) |
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The Square Root of Murder (2002) |
|
| Paul Zindel |
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A murder mystery written for a middle school aged audience in which a calculus professor is found pinned to a chalk board by a bolt fired from a crossbow. A formula on the board turns out to be an essential clue (though it involves only elementary arithmetic).
This novel for young readers should not be confused with the adult mystery novel with the same title by Ada Madison.
(more) |
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The Square Root of Summer (2016) |
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| Harriet Reuter Hapgood |
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In this young adult novel, a mathematically inclined teenager who ignores the sad events she does not want to remember learns to deal with them by literally revisiting her past through wormholes.
There... (more) |
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Sticks (2002) |
|
| Joan Bauer |
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Fifth grader Mickey Vernon gets help from his "math whiz" friend in beating a bully at pool in this novel for children. Some reviewers complained that the plot was slow and that the harping on mathematics... (more) |
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Strange Attractors (1990) |
|
| William Sleator |
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Time-travel story for young adolescents with a little bit of chaotic
dynamical systems thrown in. The plot follows Max, a high school student
with an interest in math and science, as he becomes involved... (more) |
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Summer Wars (2009) |
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| Mamoru Hosoda (Director) |
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Kenji is a part-time computer programmer from a poor family who has never had a girlfriend. Aside from the fact that he was almost selected to represent Japan in the Mathematics Olympiad he considers... (more) |
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Szatan Z Siodmej Klasy (1949) |
|
| Kornel Makuszynski |
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Website visitor David Shay suggested that I add this Polish novel written
for young adults in which one of the characters is an amateur
mathematician attempting to prove Fermat's Last Theorem.
Note... (more) |
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Time Travel for Love and Profit (2021) |
|
| Sarah Lariviere |
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Nephele Weather's nerdy tendencies made her an outcast at school. Since her "only superpower is math", she decides to discover the equations of time travel so that she can repeat her freshman year and... (more) |
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) |
|
| Betty Smith |
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You may be surprised to see Betty Smith's novel about a girl growing up poor in the early 20th century on this list. In fact, it is a stretch to call this "mathematical fiction". However, the little... (more) |
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The Unknowns: A Mystery (2009) |
|
| Benedict Carey |
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A novel for middle school children which aims to teach mathematical concepts as the young protagonists try to solve the mystery of the disappearances in their neighborhood.
I thoroughly enjoyed the... (more) |
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Very in Pieces (2015) |
|
| Megan Frazer Blakemore |
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A coming-of-age novel for young adults about a mathematically talented girl named Very Sayles-Woodruff who has trouble fitting in with her family of painters and poets. In one subplot, a teacher has put... (more) |
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White Rabbit, Red Wolf [This Story is a Lie] (2018) |
|
| Tom Pollock |
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Seventeen-year-old Peter Blankman is afraid of most things, but he loves his mother (a famous research psychologist), his twin sister (a tough girl who looks out for him), and math. So, he is in trouble... (more) |
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The Witch of Agnesi (2006) |
|
| Robert Spiller |
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Solid murder mystery in which a high school math teacher finds the murderer of three of her best students.
My favorite thing about this book is the way that Bonnie Pinkwater and her boyfriend -- the... (more) |
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The Wright 3 (2006) |
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| Blue Balliet |
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This is the second mystery book with Calder, Petra and Tommy, where the events take place after those in “Chasing Vermeer”. The main theme in the book is the impending destruction / tear-down... (more) |
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A Wrinkle in Time (1962) |
|
| Madeleine L'Engle |
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In this classic children's adventure story,
"time travel is explained as a tesseract, a five dimensional figure. By
traveling along the tesseract, one bypasses the space in between."
Usually,... (more) |
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