Just the same, a sentence or two to explain why these boxes were in this pattern (are they double the size of one another and the only way they fit together is in a rectangle?) would not have been out of place. Of course I know that I can't have it both ways, saying the book is too complicated sometimes and then complaining that other sections don't explain enough. Why they are placed in this pattern is unclear, though, which makes the fact that a single spiral connects them seem a little haphazard. In the book you are given a vision of boxes representing the Fibonacci numbers laid out together in a specific pattern. I found myself wishing that the book explained more about the concept of that aforementioned golden spiral, though. A six-year-old will be out to sea, but I'd bet there are 10-year-old math whizzes out there that'd get it in a heartbeat. It makes sense if a grown-up breaks it down, but otherwise this might be information best gleaned by the math-hungry. And, of course, if your child attempts to understand The Golden Ratio explanation at the end of the title, sign that kid up for instant math lessons pronto. Of course then you start getting into the golden spiral concept and that gets kind of complicated. What if you bought a pineapple and had the kids identify the spirals and then count them? That's pretty cool. What would be fun is if grown-ups turn it into a game. You have to realize that spirals on pinecones and sunflowers and pineapples can go a variety of different ways. At the start it's pretty clear but when it starts getting into counting the number of spirals, that's when things begin to get wonky. I suppose the real question here is whether or not kids are gonna get all the concepts the book is throwing out. It's clear that some adult help may be needed to explain along the way. By the time they get to the eight petals on the cosmos they learn about doubling the numbers and we see the same flowers all over again. They look at pictures and count the petals. So at the start the child reader is handed a really easy idea. It may sound as if this is a fairly simple and straightforward concept, but how do you write an entire book about duplicating numbers found in nature for youngsters? The Campbells have opted for starting out easy and getting slowly more complicated as the book goes on. A section on "More About Fibonacci Numbers" and a Glossary of terms appear at the end. With brilliant bright photography and simple words, Sarah and Richard Campbell make a math concept understandable. If you count spirals on pinecones or sunflowers or pineapples, no matter how you look at them they equal one of these numbers. These numbers are called Fibonacci numbers, and what's crazy is that as they go they keep showing up in nature and it's not just in flowers either. Notice anything? These petal numbers add on to one another. Take a look at these flowers and count the petals you see. It does contain a couple difficult concepts, but with the right grown-up by their side, there's very little in Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature that a child won't be able to figure out on their own. Put the two together and you've the newest picture book format math book to add to your shelves. Nature, however, is a natural complement. You could discuss how Fibonacci numbers apply to music, but that's still tricky territory. Unlike addition or multiplication they are difficult to show to kids as having practical applications in real life. You can find them in any good children's library if you know where to look and with the right teacher or parent, such books can make concepts like fractions or division or subtraction make perfect sense. Now it is fortunate that there are a slew of such books out there. No, they want books in a picture book format that incorporate math in some original manner. Generally speaking, they don't want math textbooks or worksheets of math problems. One of the more interesting requests I receive at my library's reference desk comes from parents seeking math books for their kids.
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