Jordan and Justin are best friends and the only two kids in their class’s advanced math group. So it isn’t until Stephanie Lewis marches into their classroom that they meet someone who’s as good with numbers as they are. Their shared interest in math quickly draws them together, and the three soon form The Math Kids.
Unfortunately, life as math club kids isn’t always easy. In addition to extra homework, the three friends have two new problems. First, a string of mysterious burglaries has the whole neighborhood on edge, including their parents. Then, they manage to earn unwanted attention from Robbie, the class bully. Luckily, Jordan, Justin, and Stephanie soon learn that their new club may give them the skills they need to solve both problems.
The Math Kids Club is back! After solving the case of the prime-time burglars, The Math Kids, Jordan, Justin, and Stephanie are ready to return to the original purpose of their club: solving math problems. And the district Math Olympics is the perfect opportunity to do just that. But before they can enter the competition, they need a fourth teammate. The Math Kids set their sights on Catherine Duchesne.
Even though Catherine has been quiet in class, she knows some really cool math tricks that are sure to help The Math Kids win the competition. But when Catherine doesn’t show up for school and Jordan, Justin, and Stephanie find out her father’s been kidnapped, the group springs into action to help their new friend.
The Math Kids are at it again! When their new friend, FBI Special Agent Carlson, asks them to take a look at a cryptic poem written by a dying bank robber, they know they will need all of their math skills to crack the case.
The poem isn't their only problem, though. Their favorite school janitor is fired for stealing from student lockers. The Math Kids know Old Mike would never do anything like that, but how can they prove it, especially with the new janitor watching their every move?
Jordan, Stephanie, Justin, and Catherine will need math, bravery, and a little bit of luck if they hope to solve the bank robbery case and get Old Mike his job back. Will they be able to figure out the unusual pattern in time?
When Stephanie Lewis finds secret writing in the margin of an old book in the library, The Math Kids have a new puzzle to solve. But first, they'll have to learn about codes and ciphers and how they can use their math skills to solve them.
As one clue leads to another, the kids are drawn into the mysterious old house that overlooks the town. Is it really haunted like some of the townspeople say? And who is the man in the long beard who keeps showing up everywhere they go?
But that's not their only problem. Unless they can find a solution, the math competition they've been training so hard for will be cancelled.
Jordan, Stephanie, Justin, and Catherine will need to use all their problem-solving skills to figure out the clues before it's too late.
Fifth grade could not be starting off any worse for the Math Kids. Jordan, Justin, Stephanie, and Catherine have been split up. The girls are in one class with most of the bullies, which is proving to be quite chaotic, while the boys are stuck with their nemesis, Robbie Colson, and their new teacher, Mr. Miller, who has made it quite clear he doesn't like math. Separated like this, the kids worry this could be the end of their math club, and to complicate matters, there's something going on with Robbie. When Jordan witnesses a shouting match between Robbie and his dad after school, he begins to question the bully's history of injuries and wonders if Officer Colson might do more than yell. People problems suddenly seem a lot more challenging than homework, but maybe with the right plan--and some math--the four Math Kids can find a way to deal with their classroom woes and make sure Robbie stays safe.
“Your art project is going to have to wait,” Jordan said tensely. “I just got a text from Agent Carlson. He’s in trouble!”
When FBI Special Agent Carlson is kidnapped in Egypt while investigating the plane crash of Willard Howell, an eccentric billionaire inventor, Jordan and his friends spring into action. Catherine, Stephanie, Jordan, and Justin, the fifth graders who formed the Math Kids club to solve math puzzles, must unravel the clues in Howell’s mysterious will before it’s too late. If they can’t figure out the secret of the triangle in time, Howell’s money will be gone forever.
Now the Egyptians are after the Math Kids, too. In their most exciting adventure to date, the four friends will need all their math skills to save their FBI friend and find the missing money.
Tensions Rise Between the Math Kids
When Stephanie finds out her soccer team has a tournament on the same day as the district math competition, an upset Justin offers her a choice: choose the Math Kids or leave the club. Dismayed by his attitude, Stephanie quits and Catherine goes with her.
With their club in shambles, the future of their friendships is further threatened by the news that Justin's dad has been offered a new job and wants to move his family to St. Louis.
Jordan, Justin, Catherine, and Stephanie may face the permanent fracture of their friend group and a bleak end to their school year—unless they can come together to overcome some impossible situations.
The Math Kids are off on a private jet for a dream trip to London, England. Their plans of forgetting all about math problems for a couple of weeks are interrupted when MI6 intercepts secret messages that indicate terrorists might be targeting London landmarks.
When Stephanie finds one of the messages at the Tower of London, the four friends are thrust into the middle of the plot. But is there more than terrorism at play? The clock is ticking down, so the Math Kids must work quickly with their new friends from MI6 and Scotland Yard before it's too late.
Hidden cameras, secret operations, and new math concepts await in the Math Kids' ninth adventure!
Justin has been accused of stealing from the comic book shop! To earn back the trust of his parents and the store manager, he'll have to work at the shop for four whole weekends. And that puts a damper on his plans to play video games and hang out with fellow Math Kids, Jordan, Catherine, and Stephanie.
With the end of summer approaching, the four friends realize that finding proof of Justin's innocence is their only way to save Justin's good name. To get it, they'll need to uncover who really stole the comics. Their primary suspects are the two older boys who accused Justin, but catching them red-handed will require more than just teamwork.
Solving this problem will require knowledge of proofs and patterns, and if the Math Kids aren't successful, it won't be just Justin's reputation at risk.
The Prime-Time Burglars
Named one of the best new kids books of 2018 by Red Tricycle
A Sequence of Events
Named one of the best new kids books of 2019 by Red Tricycle
An Unusual Pattern
Named one of the best new kids books of 2019 by Red Tricycle
An Encrypted Clue
Forward Reviews
INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
Purple Dragonfly
First Place: Mystery
First Place (tie): STEM
Second Place (tie): Middle Grade Fiction
The Triangle Secret
Forward Reviews
INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
Purple Dragonfly
First Place: Middle Grade Fiction
First Place: Mystery
First Place: STEM
The Knotty Problem
Purple Dragonfly
Honorable Mention: Middle Grade Fiction
An Artificial Test
Purple Dragonfly
Honorable Mention: Middle Grade Fiction
Canadian Review of Materials
I really enjoy the Math Kids novels. They are well-written and very interesting, and, additionally, the math problems are super interesting.
These books are as interesting for adults as they are for children. If you have not already found the value and the mysteries in mathematics, just read these novels to your children.
Highly Recommended.
Terje O
I just love this series, and when I got the next book I had to read it at once. The book is very well written, and as always the plot, story and characters are great. It's also educational in more than just math, and with the illustrations it's perfect. I can't wait for the next one.
Foreward Reviews
A breezy, enjoyable middle grade mystery that pulls off the difficult feat of being both educational and entertaining. In lesser hands the mix of mystery and math could be jarring, but An Incorrect Solution is effective at blending both, thanks to its easygoing prose and dry sense of humor.
YAdude Books
Kids who are into math will take special delight in the story, but those with zero interest in math will find themselves not only unable to put it down (thanks to the skilled writing and tension) -- but turned onto math (truly!) before they’re finished.
Clever author, marrying the two concepts. And this is the sixth in a series. Hats off to the author and illustrator.
Story Monsters
This sixth book in the Math Kids series is sure to excite and engage our young math enthusiasts. Clues, numbers, and patterns that can unravel sinister plots! Four fifth-grade friends have to solve a cryptic will left by a very wealthy man. With an added time-crunch, can the kids figure out the code? The reader is prompted to try and figure out the sequences and patterns as they go along. The appendix at the end is sure to delight readers as much as the storyline. Abstract art and math activities are provided to stimulate and entice their young minds.
As a teacher, I have heard so many times that math isn’t fun. Many students can’t foresee what good it will ever be in their daily lives. Well, The Math Kids is a novel that will help readers see its value.
This is a fun and insightful page-turner that captures the pleasure of discussing math and solving real-life math problems as a team.
I love the explanations given for each math problem the children face. The chapter on how math is seen in art is wonderful and this is the best explanation I have ever seen for the Fibonacci sequence.
I am a math coach for a middle school in Florida. I also read the other Math Kids books. Again this was a cute, engaging story combining math and literacy. Perfect for middle school kids as well. Highly recommend this for the math classroom or just reading for fun.
David Cole is a great writer. This is my first time reading one of his books and I was entertained! I will definitely be recommending the Math Kids series to students. I would recommend this book for students aged 9+ or anyone who loves math!
Everything changed the day Brian Bingham looked out the attic window and saw something that wouldn't happen for another week. Through a mysterious window no one else can see, Brian gains a portal into the future. But the future is not always something he wants to see.
Brian has enough troubles in the present without worrying about the future. His parents are constantly fighting, his grades are plummeting, and his new relationship with Charlotte, a girl way out of his league, is in jeopardy.
When the window reveals his best friend's brutal death, Brian's world is turned upside down. He must find a way to change the future...or die trying.
The attic had always creeped Brian Bingham out, but now at fourteen, he's too old to be afraid of shadows and dusty boxes. When a strange window appears, he discovers it's a portal to the future. A lot of the things he sees are mundane until he witnesses his best friend's horrifying death. Brian has to stop it. But can what he see through the window be changed or will it offer something much more terrifying?
This is a YA supernatural novel which begins on a fairly ordinary note. Brian is a typical teen, a little timid with the girls, but he has a good heart. It's a contemporary boy's life that is well written. Annoying little sister, cool best friend, parents in a failing marriage, and a new girlfriend. The window itself is a mystery. It appears one day when Brian is fetching a box of Christmas decorations. What he sees is fairly mundane. He finds himself spending more and more time in the attic watching his neighborhood. The window becomes something more when it shows him his friend's death and it snowballs after that. There is a creepy factor in that something so ordinary is something so sinister at the same time.
This remarkable novel had me hooked from the first page. It's not enough that Brian Bingham must simultaneously deal with his first love, his parent's dissolving marriage, and plummeting grades. A mysterious portal shows him a terrifying future.
Dave Cole deftly handles themes of family, friendship, and pre-destination vs self determination.
Fans of Before I Fall and A Prayer for Owen Meany will love this paranormal coming of age novel.
Highly recommended.
The Window is a novel about growing up and coming to terms with some of the greatest difficulties of life. The protagonist is a teenage boy named Brian who has a lot going on in his life. He’s trying to navigate his first year of high school, which means struggles with grades and figuring out what it means to be in a relationship with his first love, Charlotte. He also has to deal with his parents and their near-constant arguments.
That would be a lot for any teenager to handle. Unfortunately for Brian, he has something supernatural happening in his attic in the form of a mysterious window that predicts the future. After seeing his best friend die in that window, he becomes obsessed. Is the accident inevitable? Can he possibly stop it from happening?
The themes of love, loss, family, and friendship in this novel will surely resonate with young readers who are also learning to cope with these issues in their own lives.
Dave Cole's creepy paranormal book is perfect for young adult boys, but girls will enjoy it too. As a retired teacher who's read countless books aloud to elementary-aged kids, I know a winner when I see one, and this book is a winner.
The Window grabbed me with the first two lines: "I was fifteen when I saw my best friend die. Although if I think about it, I was fourteen when I saw him die the first time." I flew through this coming-of-age novel with its unnerving supernatural twist. Fifteen-year-old Brian Bingham is confronted with more than the death of his best friend JK during the worst year of his life: his grades are tanking, his parents are warring, and he is falling in love for the first time. The prospect of someone as clumsy and insecure as him asking someone as confident and beautiful as Charlotte out on a date is terrifying to Brian. But with JK as his enthusiastic wingman, he has no choice but to plunge in.
Dave's prose flowed as I read, his words carrying me from page to page. The characters, their challenges, and the setting have an immediacy and authenticity that I appreciated. Dave has a knack for blending expository information into the narrative seamlessly. The story has a timeless quality about it: It could take place today, years ago, or in the near future.
I don't care how old you are, the sight of a mysterious window where no window exists is irresistible. I'd look through it; wouldn't you? Unfortunately, as we story lovers know, knowledge of the hidden, the inexplicable, and the compelling usually extracts a cost. Is the tragedy unfolding predestined or can Brian change the future? Only time will tell.
Young adult fiction is typically written for readers 12 to 18 years old, but I would recommend this book for avid readers as young as 10 and to the many adults who enjoy this genre. Choosing a book for boys to read is often challenging, but boys will connect with the contemporary issues in The Window.
Copyright © 2018 The Math Kids - All Rights Reserved.