"Math Curse" By Jon Scieszka, Illustrated by Lane Smith

This book about math problems has one (1) author and one (1) illustrator. It has one (1) main character and approximately (~) thirty-seven (37) math problems. The main character, a young girl wakes up one morning only to find that everything she encounters is a math problem- problems that she can not solve at that. This humorous book follows her through her day at school and at home, eventually to find out she is capable of breaking the “curse” after all.
    While reading this book for the first time I was amazed at the creativity and clever nature of Scieszka’s writing.  As for the second time? Still amazed. The absolute detail of this child’s day is described fully by math terms, formula and commonalities while providing humour to it’s readers.
    I found this book relatable on many different levels. First of all, I can relate to the main character because I was once a student bombarded with math everyday at school. I remember thinking “is there ever a day that we don’t have to do math?” It wasn’t that I didn’t like math, I liked it a lot actually, but it was the never-ending repetition and monotony of doing it everyday that made me question it. In the same perspective I can also remember thinking “Why do the math problems always involve silly things? Like how many books can you fit in your bath tub? What‘s the sense of that?” The main character ponders the same sorts of things and it is totally justifiable when your provoked to think about it.
    I can also relate to the thought progression on the main character. While reading the questions that she asks I often laughed out loud because they are so relatable. For example when counting the shirts in her closet she questions: 1) How many shirts is that all together? 2) How many shirts would I have if I threw away that  awful plaid shirt? 3) When will Uncle Zeno quit sending me such ugly shirts?  This sequence of thoughts is similar to my thoughts as a child. Like I mentioned earlier I often wondered why the math problems never made much actual sense.
    On another hand, I can relate to the little girl as an adult. I mean, we all have days where everything goes wrong, don’t we? Everything seems to be a problem. I can’t get out of bed on time because I don’t know how to set my alarm. I can’t buy my books because my wallet got stolen. I can’t make spaghetti for supper because I don’t have any noodles and the grocery store is closed. Problem after problem. Just like the little girl experienced- oh the relentless math problems! And of course, when everything is going wrong, just like children we often blame it on bad luck. I MUST be cursed! That’s it, there’s just no other explanation.
    The text alone is humorous but when added with the collage-style illustrations, the book becomes even more lively. The storyline builds upon multiple mathematical problems as the little girl goes about her day and the pictures created by collage reiterate that notion. Lane Smith creates visual representations of the little girls hectic day by making the pictures themselves seem hectic.
The Math Curse has  perfectly paired Jon Scieszka's clever writing with Lane Smith's fresh illustrations to create an extremely relatable and laugh-producing book for math students past, present and future.

Even Calvin gets the "math curse" every now and then.