The Multiplying Mysteries of Mount Ten by Krista Van Dolzer

The other boys and girls at the camp are also fun. Her attitude and worldview make her a really fun character to filter the story through. She's interesting, strong, and assertive. I think it would help some students get excited about math, and it could also be a great book for kids who love math but don't necessarily like to read.Įsther is a great main character. The math class could even do a little logic puzzle unit as students begin to read the book, and I think most kids really enjoy solving logic puzzles, especially compared to more straightforward math problems.

They could talk about the story in English class and actually solve the puzzles together in math class. This book would make an amazing cross-curricular novel for junior high students. So the reader can eliminate suspects as Esther and the other math campers find the clues. The thing that really sets this book apart from anything else I've ever read is that the central mystery can be solved with a logic puzzle grid that's provided in the book itself. The characters explain the solutions to these puzzles in a way that makes sense. And you don't have to take the time to figure out the puzzles on your own if you don't want to. These are fun to do even for people who don't enjoy, or are not good at math. We're talking about visual puzzles, logic puzzles, encoded messages, etc. Before you're turned off by the fact that there's math in this book, I'm not talking about boring arithmetic here. The premise of this book is wonderful: a murder mystery set at a summer math camp! And Van Dolzer brilliantly built math-based puzzles into the narrative in a way that the reader can actually solve them as well while they read along.

The Multiplying Mysteries of Mount Ten by Krista Van Dolzer