Marvelous Math

A Book of Poems

Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. Marvelous Math : a Book of Poems. Illustrated by Karen Barbour. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2001.

ISBN 0689844425

Marvelous Math is a collection of poems by various poets and selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins. The common topic of the book is all things mathematics. There are not too many books about mathematics, so this makes a great book to introduce or enrich a lesson in a math class. The layout of the book is fairly straight forward. There is a table of contents in the front and an acknowledgments page in the back of the book. The illustrations of this book are interesting and abundant. Karen Barbour, the illustrator, used a lot of vibrant colors in her drawings throughout the book. There is a question about what some of the illustrations have to do with the poems. I also think that the illustrations overpower the majority of the poems. It is hard to concentrate on what the poem is saying when there is so many other distractions on the page. Students will definitely overlook the poems and just look at the illustrations.

Over ninety percent of the poems in this book have some sort of rhyming scheme. Some of them have distinctive patterns, like every second and fourth line in each stanza where other poems have no pattern to the rhyming. One poem with an A B rhyming pattern that caught my attention teaches the reader how to count from one to ten in Cantonese. I also believe that the last poem of the book was places well because it is memorable. Over half of the poem consists of many lines of alliteration by listing names of birds and ends with the poem forming shape. Overall, this collection has potential for entertainment and content. It has a great way of connecting and teaching in the English/Reading and Math classrooms.

When selecting a poem to use in a lesson, I chose Time Passes by Ilo Orleans. I suggest this poem to be used to introduce time in a math class. This poem can be a good way for students to learn and remember seconds, minutes, and hours of time.

Time Passes by Ilo Orleans

Sixty seconds

Pass in a minute.

Sixty minutes

Pass in an hour.

Twenty-four hours

Pass in a day--

And that's how TIME

Keeps passing away!