Domino Addition
Lynette Long, author
Lynette Long, Ph.D., has more than twenty years of experience working with children and in education. She has appeared on over 200 television and radio programs, including "Good Morning America" and the "CBS Evening News."
Read more about Lynette.
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Children's Literature
Various properties of the integers zero through ten are discussed via dominoes. There is basic counting and basic addition. The most advanced topic introduced is the 'partitions' of an integer. For example, 8 can be written as 8+0, 7+1, 6+2, 5+3, or as 4+4; the number 8 thus has five partitions as a sum of two numbers. This lesson will certainly go unnoticed by the youngest reader, but the older reader might appreciate it. The younger reader will enjoy getting out his or her own dominoes and identifying which ones have a given number of dots. –Karen Saxe
Kirkus Reviews
A math game and counting book that takes advantage of the intuitive understanding of addition that children gain from a set of dominoes. Long's first book starts with a blank black domino perched next to an equation, 0 + 0 = 0; on the opposite page are dominoes laid out in a circle, or zero. Each spread, with vibrant backgrounds to set off the black dominoes, follows that format; the surprise is in the symmetry of combinations that emerges--a glimpse of the wonder of numbers in a well-designed book.
School Library Journal
Long uses illustrations of dominoes on colored double-page spreads to introduce the principles of addition. Each opening is the same: "Add the number of spots on the top half of each domino to the number of spots on the bottom half of each domino." This pattern follows from 0 through 12, with the appropriate numbers on the featured pieces. Although there's not much in the way of narrative explanation, the concept is presented clearly. The lack of variance in the text becomes a little monotonous, however-after one sitting, readers won't have to use the book anymore-they'll be able to quote it all from memory. Also, the only domino sets mentioned are those with double sixes-but double nines and twelves are also readily available. If you need a very simple book on basic addition, this one is serviceable. –JoAnn Rees, Sunnyvale Public Library, CA
Publishers Weekly
That unassuming icon, the domino tile, helps youngsters add numbers from zero to 10 in this solid, no-nonsense offering. The clear approach also makes it useful for children just learning to count. Dominoes seem somehow so obvious for the purpose, owing primarily to the simplicity of newcomer Long's presentation. Large flat dominoes lie against solid bold backgrounds on every page; the text directs the reader to "add the number of spots on the top half of this domino to the number of spots on the bottom half." Facing pages show several dominoes arranged in the shape of a number, while the text asks the reader to find the domino with the matching number of dots (answers appear at the bottom of the next page). This sound title has a natural place in the classroom, too.
Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-88106-877-1
E-book
ISBN: 978-1-60734-286-1 PDF
Ages: 5-8
Page count: 32
11 x 8 1/2