Book Review: Patterns in Peru

LilDude (8) received Patterns in Peru for his birthday. It was a perfect fit in so many ways.

We'd recently done a series of lessons on patterns in math. We had a lot of fun reading Pattern Bugs, searching for patterns in the book, and making our own patterns. Patterns in Peru became the perfect follow-up.

In the story, two children, Matt and Bibi, accompany their parents to Peru to "study an ancient woven tunic that is connected to the mysterious Lost City of Quwi." Through a series of mishaps, the children end up lost and must follow the patterns on the tunic in order to find the ancient city. They discuss what they know about patterns, explore a variety, and eventually make a T-chart to record a final growing pattern. For us, it was a great review of what we'd recently been learning about patterns.

The book's setting clinched it for us. In Sonlight Core 3, we've been studying Ancient Incans. (See our Core 3 activities.) In one illustration the children have to cross a rope bridge. Immediately, LilDude says, "That's like the bridge in Secret of the Andes!" (a Core 3 read aloud) The curriculum integration could not have been more perfect.

Thanks, Cindy Neuschwander, for another fabulous math tale!

Other books in the Matt and Bibi series include Mummy Math: An Adventure in Geometry and Pastry School in Paris: An Adventure in Capacity. We love Mummy Math and Patterns in Peru. Upon receiving Patterns in Peru, my son asked if there were any more Matt/Bibi books. When he learned about Pastry School in Paris, he asked for it for Christmas! ;)

P.S. This is linked up at Joyful Learner. Awesome math posts over there to check out. ;)