Tiger Math- Ann Whitehead Nagda

Nina Ferguson

Professor Little

2/25/14

Math 160

Tiger Math

By: Ann Whitehead Nagda

1. This is a children’s story about a Siberian Tiger cub that is born in the Denver zoo and is orphaned by his mother when he is just a few weeks old. This is a true story, which educates children in mathematical skills as well as information about the Siberian Tiger. TJ, the Siberian cub, refuses to eat anything because it is not his mothers’ milk. TJ is so young and underdeveloped that he is required to have a full staff at the zoo taking care of him. While everyone at the zoo is worried about him, he still refuses to eat the new food. The staff continue to be extremely concerned and want TJ to grow up to be a beautiful healthy Tiger.  Throughout the book they start to doubt that he will survive, because of his refusal to eat. Finally one day TJ eats the food that the staff have been urging him to eat. This is a joyous day because it recognizes the survival of a cub that was faced with near death starvation. Through pictures, narrative, and different graphs, this story incorporates both math and a struggle for survival. The story follows TJ from when he is a newborn cub abandoned, into a big strong Tiger.

2. Tiger Math displayed an educational and heartwarming way to learn about the survival of a young cub. This book incorporates mathematical graphing skills for the growth of the Tiger. This is interesting because children can see the overall growth from when the Tiger was just a few weeks old to when he grew into a 500 pound tiger. Each day was plotted onto the graph to portray the growth. I think this book did a great job of balancing the story with the math and having an engaging topic.

3. I think that literature is a great way to teach kids about math, because when children are learning at such an important developmental stage in their life it makes things a lot easier to describe a story to explain something. Showing pictures of why the graph is the way it looks is also helpful. I think that these picture books that incorporate narrative as well as math is one of the best ways to motivate children to listen and learn.