Mathical Prize WinnerKitty & Cat: Bent Out of ShapeMirka Hokkanen, illustrated by Mirka HokkanenIt is bath time, but Cat cannot be found until Kitty, Puppy, and several flies look closely. Their pursuit leads through shapes concealed in the scenes, including trapezoids, triangles, circles, squares, and others. Cat is described as literally bent out of shape, while the search uses housemates and sight gags to reveal the shapes that are hiding in plain view.Pre-KindergartenView book detailsMathical Book Prize 2024
The 2024 edition includes 19 Mathical Honor Books and 5 Mathical Prize Winners. The source organizes the selections into Pre-Kindergarten, Grades K through 2, Grades 3 through 5, Grades 6 through 8, and Grades 9 through 12. It records that year's Mathical Prize, Honor, and Hall of Fame results across the program's grade groups.
2024 Mathical Book Prize Winners and Honor BooksSee the original list
Selections24
Published byMathical Book Prize
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Pre-Kindergarten
6 selections
Mathical Prize WinnerKitty & Cat: Bent Out of ShapeMirka Hokkanen, illustrated by Mirka HokkanenIt is bath time, but Cat cannot be found until Kitty, Puppy, and several flies look closely. Their pursuit leads through shapes concealed in the scenes, including trapezoids, triangles, circles, squares, and others. Cat is described as literally bent out of shape, while the search uses housemates and sight gags to reveal the shapes that are hiding in plain view.Pre-KindergartenView book details
Mathical Honor Book¡1, 2, 3 Salsa!Delia RuizA bilingual English-Spanish counting book uses a salsa dance invitation and dancing shoes to introduce the numbers from one through ten. Salsa provides the framework for counting, with rhythmic text and colorful illustrations. The book is part of a group of English-Spanish board books that introduces primary concepts through Latin dance, alongside companion volumes about cumbia and merengue.Pre-KindergartenView book details
Mathical Honor BookThe Great Cookie KerfuffleJessica Shaw, illustrated by Pauline GregoryOn a little farm, a cookie that has fallen to the ground becomes the focus of a dispute among the animals. More and more animals become involved in fighting over it, and the farm descends into disorder. The conflict then reaches above the farm as well, bringing a new kind of trouble overhead. The story follows the escalating commotion caused by one dropped cookie.Pre-KindergartenLexile Text Measure AD590LATOS Book Level 3.8View book details
Mathical Honor BookSome of These Are SnailsCarter Higgins, illustrated by Carter HigginsSome of These Are Snails is a concept book about sorting, classification, patterns, and perspective. It presents familiar ideas in unexpected ways and uses a playful approach to ask how things can be grouped, distinguished, and seen differently. Rather than following a conventional plot, the book focuses on changing points of view and on the relationships among patterns and categories.Pre-KindergartenLexile Text Measure NP0LATOS Book Level 0.1View book details
Mathical Honor BookTen Blocks to the Big Wok: A Chinatown Counting BookYing-Hwa HuMia and her Uncle Eddie walk ten blocks through Chinatown on their way to the Big Wok for dim sum. Their bilingual English and Chinese counting journey notices cultural landmarks and objects in numbered groups, including a panda, stone lions, turtles, and miniature trees. At the restaurant, Mia counts the food on the table, then takes anchovies to share with the orange-and-white cat that followed them.Pre-KindergartenView book details
Mathical Honor BookUp to My Knees!Grace Lin, illustrated by Grace LinMei plants a sunflower seed and observes the plant as it grows. She compares its changing height with parts of her own body: first her toes, then her knees, and later her waist. Through Mei’s ongoing observation, the book connects a garden’s growth with measurement and shows how a child can use familiar points of comparison to track a plant’s height over time.Pre-KindergartenLexile Text Measure AD340LATOS Book Level 2.5View book detailsGrades K–2
6 selections
Mathical Prize WinnerFriends Beyond Measure: A Story Told with InfographicsLalena Fisher, illustrated by Lalena FisherHarwin and Ana have built their friendship through backyard fairy tea, trampoline time, creativity, and compromise. Their activities appear through infographics, including a Venn diagram, timeline, pictogram, and other charts. When Harwin moves away, neither the charts nor their counts can resolve the friends’ sadness. They stay in touch and make plans for future adventures, while an ending chart explains ways charts communicate information.Grades K–2Word Count 423View book details
Mathical Honor Book100 Mighty Dragons All Named BroccoliDavid LaRochelle, illustrated by Lian ChoOne hundred dragons named Broccoli live on a mountain, but their number steadily changes as groups leave. A powerful wind carries away half of them, while ten depart to surf in Hawaii. The oldest and youngest travel to New York City to form a heavy-metal band, and a wizard transforms four others. The departures and transformations leave one dragon behind.Grades K–2Lexile Text Measure AD600LATOS Book Level 3.9View book details
Mathical Honor BookHow to Explain Coding to a Grown-UpRuth Spiro, illustrated by Teresa MartínezHow to Explain Coding to a Grown-Up is a STEM picture book that introduces coding to children and grown-ups. Its premise turns the usual adult-explains-to-child dynamic around: the book starts from the idea that grown-ups do not have every answer and brings them into the world of coding alongside young readers.Grades K–2View book details
Mathical Honor BookRafa Counts on PapáJoe Cepeda, illustrated by Joe CepedaRafa and his papá spend time counting and measuring together. Their questions range from the height of a dog’s jump to the size of a sandwich. As they explore things that can be measured, Rafa also considers a different question: how love might be measured. The story centers on a father and son sharing everyday activities, numbers, comparison, and affection.Grades K–2View book details
Mathical Honor BookWe Are BranchesJoyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth KrommesWe Are Branches looks at branching patterns as connections found throughout nature. Its examples range from a butterfly’s wing to a river moving toward the ocean, presenting branches as a way that living things and natural features link together. The book focuses on patterns that shape life around us and on the connections that surround us in the natural world.Grades K–2View book details
Mathical Honor BookYou Rule!Rilla Alexander, illustrated by Rilla AlexanderA boy’s journey with a caterpillar explores questions about distance, knowledge, feelings, and thoughts. The book presents varied possible responses to questions such as how far someone can go or how much they know. Its focus is on ways people might try to measure what cannot be given a fixed amount, including inner experiences and life’s intangible wonders. Bold graphic artwork accompanies this playful consideration of the immeasurable.Grades K–2Lexile Text Measure AD10LATOS Book Level 0.1View book detailsGrades 3–5
4 selections
Mathical Prize WinnerFriend of Numbers: The Life of Mathematician Srinivasa RamanujanPriya Narayanan, illustrated by Satwik GadeThis biography follows Srinivasa Ramanujan, who grew up in southern India under British rule and became absorbed by patterns in numbers. He devoted himself to mathematical ideas, explored concepts, and attempted to publish his work. In 1914, at age twenty-six, he traveled to England to work with G. H. Hardy. Although Cambridge differed greatly from home, Ramanujan continued pursuing the questions and discoveries that mattered to him.Grades 3–5View book details
Mathical Honor BookJerry Changed the Game!: How Engineer Jerry Lawson Revolutionized Video Games ForeverDon Tate, illustrated by Cherise HarrisThis biography follows Jerry Lawson, a childhood tinkerer who enjoyed springs, sprockets, and other gadgets. As an adult engineer in the 1970s, he applied his technical knowledge to video games. At the time, getting a new game meant buying another console, so Lawson worked to change that costly system while facing obstacles. The account presents these setbacks as part of his continuing effort.Grades 3–5View book details
Mathical Honor BookNine: A Book of Nonet PoemsIrene Latham, illustrated by Amy HuntingtonIrene Latham’s collection uses nonet poems to examine the number nine. Each poem has nine lines, with syllable counts that either build from one through nine or move downward from nine to one. The poems make their form part of their subject, using changing line lengths and syllable patterns to explore a single number. Charlesbridge published the book in 2020.Grades 3–5View book details
Mathical Honor BookThe Brilliant Calculator: How Mathematician Edith Clarke Helped Electrify AmericaJan LowerLong before electronic calculators, Edith Clarke loved numbers, calculations, puzzles, and brainteasers. This picture-book biography follows her as she solves an electrical mystery and creates the first graphing calculator from paper. It also addresses the gender discrimination she faced in early-twentieth-century science and mathematics before she became the first woman electrical engineer in the United States.Grades 3–5View book detailsGrades 6–8
4 selections
Mathical Prize WinnerTalia’s Codebook for MathletesMarissa Moss, illustrated by Marissa MossTalia enjoys mathematical puzzles and breaking codes, but middle school’s unfamiliar social expectations leave her uncertain. She is the only girl on a Mathlete team and encounters discrimination there, prompting her to start a girls’ team for competition. Told in a comics-diary format, the book brings together Talia’s enthusiasm for math with her effort to navigate social life at school.Grades 6–8Lexile Text Measure 600LATOS Book Level 3.9View book details
Mathical Honor BookThe Last Tree TownBeth TurleyCassi, who is Puerto Rican, is often surprised when others expect her to have different Latinx features. At school, she becomes distracted by a new boy in Math Olympics who tells stories about other “tree towns.” Her identity and a new friendship are tested after a negative video of her sister spreads widely. The novel addresses family, friendship, identity, mental health, and middle school life.Grades 6–8Lexile Text Measure 650LATOS Book Level 4.2View book details
Mathical Honor BookThe Probability of EverythingSarah EverettKemi, eleven, learns that a life-ending asteroid may collide with Earth. A lover of science and probability, she is confronted with an 87 percent chance of a full collision. Her family stays with relatives in their former neighborhood, where Kemi begins creating a time capsule about her family for possible future humans. She also hopes to help her father consider meaningful work before their time runs out.Grades 6–8Word Count 52720View book details
Mathical Honor BookViolet and the Pie of LifeD. L. GreenTwelve-year-old Violet loves math and pie but wishes her parents’ relationship added up to something better. Her father has moved out, her mother nags, and her best friend is angry with her. Violet tries to use mathematical ideas, including ratios, multiplication, and addition, to improve the family situation. Math and the school play may also help her work through these troubles.Grades 6–8View book detailsGrades 9–12
4 selections
Mathical Prize WinnerA Quantum Life (Adapted for Young Adults): My Unlikely Journey from the Streets to the StarsHakeem Oluseyi, Joshua HorwitzAstrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi recounts a life that began with childhood poverty and a difficult adolescence. His account traces his path into graduate physics study and eventually a career in science. Joshua Horwitz is credited alongside Oluseyi on this young-adult adaptation, published by Ember in 2024. The book describes both the personal challenges and scientific work that shaped Oluseyi’s journey.Grades 9–12Lexile Text Measure 970LView book details
Mathical Honor BookMoney Out Loud: All the Financial Stuff No One Taught UsBerna Anat, illustrated by Monique SterlingBerna Anat’s illustrated guide takes up money topics that people may have found confusing or hard to discuss. It covers budgeting, saving, and investing; considers how trauma can shape damaging money habits; and explores changing those patterns. The book also addresses building wealth within a system described as keeping people broke, using money for personal dreams, and using it to change the world.Grades 9–12View book details
Mathical Honor BookMy Mechanical RomanceAlexene Farol FollmuthThis young-adult romance combines battle-robot building with attraction between opposites. Bel is introduced as someone who would prefer not to consider what lies ahead. The available description places her in a story where romantic connection and contrasting personalities accompany the construction of robots intended for battle. Robot building is central to the premise, alongside a relationship between two very different people.Grades 9–12View book details
Mathical Honor BookThe Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden LifeAmy Butler GreenfieldThis biography follows Elizebeth Smith Friedman from her early work with codes and ciphers alongside George Fabyan to her growing expertise in deciphering them. After she and William Friedman left Fabyan’s employment, Elizebeth joined the U.S. Coast Guard’s efforts against rum smugglers. Her ability to recognize patterns shaped her codebreaking work. During World War II, the couple worked separately on secret military assignments while also raising two children and facing William’s depression.Grades 9–12View book details