The animals would not sleep! by Sara Levine, illustrated by Marta Alvarez Miguens; Lia & Luis: Who has more? by Ana Crespo, illustrated by Giovana Medeiros

 I first encountered the "Storytelling Math" series from Charlesbridge in a series of 4 board books created by Grace Lin. In those she talks about the importance of STEM books that include diverse children. The picture books have now arrived and I am so thrilled with the wonderful job done by Charlesbridge and the various authors. I've preordered all the ones coming out next year, but here are the first two to start with!

In The animals would not sleep! we are introduced to Marco, a small, brown-skinned boy with straight brown hair, who is supposed to be getting ready for bed. But he's got a problem - his stuffed animals just won't cooperate! Marco tries to sort them into different groups to settle them down, by size, by color, and by type, but nothing works. Finally, he figures out a way to sort them that satisfies everyone, just in time for his mother to come in and kiss him goodnight. The pictures are colorful and attractive, a nice accompaniment to the text. At the end of the story, there's more information about "sorting in science" with a discussion of how animals are classified and a section of math exploration activities. These are created by Sara Levine, the author and a former biology professor, and a consultant from TERC (I had to look this up - it's an educational and research foundation and provided a grant to assist in this series).

The second title took me a little longer to collect, but I finally got Lia & Luis who has more? and was not disappointed. Brazilian-American twins Lia and Luis like to compete, but there's one thing they can agree on - they both love snacks! When they go downstairs to their family's store and pick out their favorite snack, boscoito de polvilho for Luis and coxinhas de galinha for Lia, they're both pleased at first. But, of course they don't stop there and an argument begins about who has more. Luis has a bag of snacks and Lia just has two croquettes. So who has more? They measure, compare, and weigh until they finally get their snacks matched up and eaten - just in time for Papa to show up with more! This book has a helpful glossary in the back, with a pronunciation guide for the Portuguese words included in the text (this is helpful but you won't need to interrupt the story to look them up - the meanings are clear from the text) and math activities based around measurement and comparing. This is another charmingly illustrated story, with the focus of the pictures on the twins in their purple and gold outfits, sharing and comparing their treats.

For teachers and librarians interested in sets, the books are coming out in paperback later this year and they'd be a great basis for a series of programs exploring cultures, math, food, and more.

Verdict: These books are amazing on so many different levels! They would make great storytime reads, they're wonderful for introducing math concepts to preschool and kindergarteners, and they include a range of diverse cultures, races, and children. I'm super excited to promote these to my parents and teachers and I think kids will enjoy them as stories and not even realize how much they're learning! Highly recommended.

The animals would not sleep: ISBN: 9781623541286

Lia & Luis: Who has more?: ISBN: 9781623541279

Published October 2020 by Charlesbridge; Borrowed from another library in my consortium; Purchased for the library