Young Math series: working on reprinting

[Maria Droujkova]

The story of New Math curriculum is a true tragedy. A creative effort of a very talented group of mathematicians and educators, wildly successful in their lab classes, ended in mass rejection when scaled too widely, too soon. There is a lesson to us all: don't try to speed up organic growth of ideas, whether in one kid, or in the whole society.

One very neat artifact of the late New Math era is a series of books for young kids, called Young Math. Each is centered on a relatively advanced and interesting math idea, presented for about four- to eight-year-olds with pictures and stories and things to do. The only problem is, the books have not been reprinted since the early 70s! Occasionally, you can buy one at a reasonable price when someone weeds out a library, but usually they go at "rarity" prices of $30 or so per book.

I am working on acquiring rights for them and making them available again at low prices. Maybe it can be done by community fundraising - people pre-ordering books and when enough orders are in, we print them for everybody. There are many wonderful options available now. I just need to figure out how to navigate the publisher's permissions department - they just got back to me today. Wish Natural Math luck with this :-) And respond if you know and love any of these books!

--
Here is the list of books in the series, compiled by Julie Brennan, a homeschooling mother and a hero, of Living Math:

1. 3D, 2D, 1D by David A. Adler
2. 666 Jellybeans! All That? An Introduction to Algebra by Malcolm E. Weiss
3. Angles are Easy as Pie by Robert Froman
4. Area by Jane Jonas Srivastava
5. Averages by Jane Jonas Srivastava
6. Base Five by David A. Adler
7. Bigger and Smaller by Robert Froman
8. Binary Numbers by Clyde Watson
9. Building Tables on Tables: A Book about Multiplication by John V. Trivett
10. Circles by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
11. Computers by Jane Jonas Srivastava
12. The Ellipse by Mannis Charosh
13. Estimation by Charles F. Linn
14. Exploring Triangles: Paper-Folding Geometry by Jo Phillips
15. Fractions are Parts of Things by J. Richard Dennis
16. A Game of Functions by Robert Froman
17. Graph Games by Frédérique and Papy
18. The Greatest Guessing Game: A Book about Dividing by Robert Froman
19. How Did Numbers Begin? by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
20. How Little and How Much: A Book about Scales by Franklyn M. Branley
21. Less than Nothing is Really Something by Robert Froman
22. Lines, Segments, Polygons by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
23. Long, Short, High, Low, Thin, Wide by James T. Fey
24. Maps, Tracks, and the Bridges of Konigsberg: A Book about Networks by
25. Michael Holt
26. Mathematical Games for One or Two by Mannis Charosh
27. Measure with Metric by Franklyn M. Branley
28. Number Ideas through Pictures by Mannis Charosh
29. Odds and Evens by Thomas C. O'Brien
30. Probability by Charles F. Linn
31. Right Angles: Paper-Folding Geometry by Jo Phillips
32. Roman Numerals by David A. Adler
33. Rubber Bands, Baseballs and Doughnuts: A Book about Topology by Robert
34. Froman
35. Shadow Geometry by Daphne Harwood Trivett
36. Solomon Grundy, Born on Oneday: A Finite Arithmetic Puzzle by Malcolm
37. E. Weiss
38. Spirals by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
39. Statistics by Jane Jonas Srivastava
40. Straight Lines, Parallel Lines, Perpendicular Lines by Mannis Charosh
41. Venn Diagrams by Robert Froman
42. Weighing & Balancing by Jane Jonas Srivastava
43. What is Symmetry? by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
44. Yes-No; Stop-Go: Some Patterns in Mathematical Logic by Judith L.
45. Gersting and Joseph E. Kuczkowski
46. Zero is not Nothing by Mindel and Harry Sitomer

--
Cheers,
MariaD

Make math your own, to make your own math.

naturalmath.com: a sketch of a social math site
groups.google.com/group/naturalmath: a mailing list about math maker activities
groups.google.com/group/multiplicationstudy the family multiplication study

[Linda Fleck]

I have a couple of these books, and we have borrowed many of them from the library. They are WONDERFUL.

Good Luck!
Linda


--- On Thu, 11/6/08, Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com> wrote:

> book<http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000QO2DLY/ref=sr_1_olp_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226022318&sr=8-1>.

>
>
> I am working on acquiring rights for them and making them
> available again at
> low prices. Maybe it can be done by community fundraising -
> people
> pre-ordering books and when enough orders are in, we print
> them for
> everybody. There are many wonderful options available now.
> I just need to
> figure out how to navigate the publisher's permissions
> department - they
> just got back to me today. Wish Natural Math luck with this
> :-) And respond
> if you know and love any of these books!
>
> --
> Here is the list of books in the series, compiled by Julie
> Brennan, a
> homeschooling mother and a hero, of Living Math

> <http://livingmath.net/>:
>
>
> 1. 3D, 2D, 1D by David A. Adler
> 2. 666 Jellybeans! All That? An Introduction to Algebra
> by Malcolm E.
> Weiss
> 3. Angles are Easy as Pie by Robert Froman
> 4. Area by Jane Jonas Srivastava
> 5. Averages by Jane Jonas Srivastava
> 6. Base Five by David A. Adler
> 7. Bigger and Smaller by Robert Froman
> 8. Binary Numbers by Clyde Watson
> 9. Building Tables on Tables: A Book about

> Multiplication by John V.
> Trivett

> 10. Circles by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
> 11. Computers by Jane Jonas Srivastava
> 12. The Ellipse by Mannis Charosh
> 13. Estimation by Charles F. Linn
> 14. Exploring Triangles: Paper-Folding Geometry by Jo
> Phillips
> 15. Fractions are Parts of Things by J. Richard Dennis
> 16. A Game of Functions by Robert Froman
> 17. Graph Games by Frédérique and Papy
> 18. The Greatest Guessing Game: A Book about Dividing by
> Robert Froman
> 19. How Did Numbers Begin? by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
> 20. How Little and How Much: A Book about Scales by
> Franklyn M. Branley
> 21. Less than Nothing is Really Something by Robert
> Froman
> 22. Lines, Segments, Polygons by Mindel and Harry
> Sitomer
> 23. Long, Short, High, Low, Thin, Wide by James T. Fey
> 24. Maps, Tracks, and the Bridges of Konigsberg: A Book
> about Networks by
> 25. Michael Holt
> 26. Mathematical Games for One or Two by Mannis Charosh
> 27. Measure with Metric by Franklyn M. Branley
> 28. Number Ideas through Pictures by Mannis Charosh
> 29. Odds and Evens by Thomas C. O'Brien
> 30. Probability by Charles F. Linn
> 31. Right Angles: Paper-Folding Geometry by Jo Phillips
> 32. Roman Numerals by David A. Adler
> 33. Rubber Bands, Baseballs and Doughnuts: A Book about
> Topology by
> Robert
> 34. Froman
> 35. Shadow Geometry by Daphne Harwood Trivett
> 36. Solomon Grundy, Born on Oneday: A Finite Arithmetic
> Puzzle by Malcolm
> 37. E. Weiss
> 38. Spirals by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
> 39. Statistics by Jane Jonas Srivastava
> 40. Straight Lines, Parallel Lines, Perpendicular Lines
> by Mannis Charosh
> 41. Venn Diagrams by Robert Froman
> 42. Weighing & Balancing by Jane Jonas Srivastava
> 43. What is Symmetry? by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
> 44. Yes-No; Stop-Go: Some Patterns in Mathematical Logic
> by Judith L.
> 45. Gersting and Joseph E. Kuczkowski
> 46. Zero is not Nothing by Mindel and Harry Sitomer

[one...@aol.com]

Thanks for the list...I found all of them at our library, so we will
start to check them out.

- Chris O.

[chrissy akers]

Maria, I haven't heard of any of the books you reference, but they seem very interesting.  There are some really great subjects that my girls and I would love to learn more about. You can put me down as one who will order a book once you get the rights to the New Math book. Good luck with your publishing venture. Chrissy a/k/a Snowflake Mama

--- On Thu, 11/6/08, Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com> Subject: [NaturalMath] Young Math series: working on reprinting To: natur...@googlegroups.com Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008, 8:53 PM

[EvaLinda DeVita]

Count me in, I would love to be able to get these books at a reasonable price!
EvaLinda

[Penelope Wood]

I'd be interested.

Penny

[danli...@gmail.com]

Hi, MariaD:

I didn't know about this series until my 5-year-old boy asked about stories behind numbers. I will contact a publishing house to see under what circumstances they will start considering reprinting books. I will also turn to school teachers and librarians for help.

I am wondering whether you are still interested in this endeavor.

Thanks and have a nice weekend!

Dan