Reviews

I received this book as part of a PD for our grade level meeting at the middle school where I teach. It was not what I expected, and I’m not sure how I powered through til the end. I was troubled by the renaming of concepts and didn’t really see the “wow!” factor in much of the math/how it was presented in this text. The Number Devil and Robert bicker in every chapter and by “The Third Night” I was already irritated by their rapport. There are so many brilliant math resources for teachers and students, and some of these concepts are great for open ended problem solving, but the way this book is written takes those brilliant concepts and just makes them feel lacklustre. Too bad!

joluchs's review against another edition

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adventurous informative lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

showell's review

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4.0

Filled with various tricks that numbers can do. Lays the groundwork for geometry & calculus concepts, as well as teaches arithmetic tricks that would be useful in math competitions. Reminds me of The Phantom Tollbooth. A good pick for math-curious middle school readers.

nurseyrhymes's review

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adventurous funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

lizzina's review

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5.0

Well, I must admit that math has never been too complicated to me, and sometimes it has also been funny. But I guess I would have liked to meet this Number Devil, having him in my dreams, lear some tricks. Math can be a really funny game and we should never be scared ;)

mlemkiros's review against another edition

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3.0

La matematica mi fa sognare anche se sono una schiappa incredibile, con questo libro ho imparato qualcosa di nuovo, ma alcune cose nella narrazione non mi sono proprio piaciute (es. Certi atteggiamenti del mago).

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