I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Very bright and colorful. A fun start to learning math.

I enjoyed the first book in this series but this just feels like the same cookie cutter format repeated for a different school subject as opposed to a stand alone story.

Super cute book. My 8 year old loved the illustrations and even my 11 yr old liked the story. Great addition to our library.

My brain is visual, so when it comes to picture books, I’m all about the illustrations first. And this book? This book has wonderful pictures, bouncing between Adelaide’s classroom, the “real world”, and all the places outdoors you’d expect to see a bear (and hope to see a girl!). The colorwork is stupendous all around, but the nature scenes were by far my favorite.

The premise of the book, that Adelaide can have a bear for a math partner when there aren’t enough students in the class to pair up, is quite fun. Throughout this charming book, the author touches on some basics of math – measuring, reading a compass, shapes, adding and subtracting, counting, and sorting. But there is also recognition that math can sometimes be hard to understand, but with effort, anyone can learn it, and it’s important to do so because you’ll use it your whole life!

This book was not only a fun read but is also a great tool for introducing young kids to the basics of math and encouraging them to not give up. Math can be fun!

When the children in Adelaide’s class are paired up, Adelaide is left sitting by herself. But she has the perfect solution and sets out to convince her teacher, Mrs Fitz-Pea, that bears really do make the best “math buddies”!

In the pages that follow, we see the two friends fishing, hiking, building a tree house and all enjoying all manner of fun activities together, while making use of their maths skills (or “math”, I should say, as this is a US release!)

This book teaches children about shapes and counting, addition and subtraction, and the importance of working hard on a problem until you find the solution. It also demonstrates beautifully that mathematics (maybe I’m safer sticking with the full word!) is not just for the classroom, but an extremely valuable tool for everyday life.

The bright, eye-catching illustrations really help the story to leap off of the page. Readers will have fun spotting little details like the mathematical symbols decorating the bear’s jumper.

This is a delightful, STEM-infused read for young children, which is educational and fun in equal measure.

This followup to Bears Make the Best Reading Buddies is a sweet book about Adelaide and her friend Bear. When Adelaide doesn't have a math partner, she tries to convince her teacher that Bear is the perfect buddy. Adelaide then goes through all of the ways that Bear can help her in an exciting trip through different mathematical concepts. I loved the fact that it showed real life usage of math concepts, but I struggle with books that don't actually have stories. Kids will enjoy this as a read aloud, but one read will probably be enough.

The Story:
Mrs Fitz-Pea isn’t convinced that Bear will make a good maths buddy for Adelaide. But Adelaide soon sets her straight that bears are good at all kinds of mathematical problems because they use maths every day.

Favourite Spread:
Most of the spreads in this book showed a different mathematical topic being used in everyday life by Bear. The concepts grew in difficulty. I loved when Bear and Adelaide saw shapes in the clouds, this would appeal to younger children. There were also some spreads with good opportunities to count and even do some addition and subtraction. However, the answers were always included on the same spread so there was no real “page-turning” excitement. I did really like that the class students were from a range of different cultural backgrounds and indeed Mrs Fitz-Pea was a diverse teacher.

The Verdict:
As a mathematician, I was super excited to read this book and it so nearly delivered. However, there was no real story, there were no highs or lows or arc; Bear and Adelaide didn’t get into any “maths problems” so it didn’t feel like a story. This book is really just Adelaide telling her teacher why bears are good at maths, albeit in a fun-packed way. Overall, it was great to read a maths-based picture book, a hard topic to make engaging, done pretty well.

Picture Book Perfect Rating:
Three and a half stars out of five stars.

I am very grateful to the publisher for providing me with an advanced digital copy via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

** This review will be published on 28 May (around a month before publication date) links can be updated **

Pairing up the kids for math partners leaves the teacher in a lurch when there is an odd number of students. Adelaide brings out her bear to even things out, and tells all the wonderful ways they find math together in the real world. The illustrations are bright and approachable. It would be great to do math centers for each scene. The bear's sweater would be fun to dive into- students can create their own math sweaters with patterns and symbols they have learned. This title is an excellent addition to the series.

This is a cute book about math. Illustrations are lovely and text is fun. I think students would enjoy reading this in the classroom. My only other comment is the font. The handwriting-like font may be difficult for younger readers to make out some of the letters. Otherwise, the book is great.

I have read Bears Make the Best Reading Buddies, so of course I had to read the new Math version! Just as cute as the first, Bear becomes Adelaide's math buddy in her class after she explains how good he is at applying math skills to his daily life: catching and eating fish, spotting shapes in clouds, counting stars, etc. The best part was how Bear knew that making mistakes is a part of everything, and you just have to keeping working to find the answer (a wonderful lesson for children!). And of course he's constant encouragement!

Cute story that helps make concepts memorable. My 4.5 year old enjoyed it. Definitely useful for the classroom or homeschool.