First published 2007
Ms. Sarah Chen faces her toughest challenge yet when strange things start happening in her fourth grade classroom. Pencils disappear during math lessons. Test scores don't add up. Even the class pet hamster seems to be multiplying impossibly fast. Sarah turns to algebra to crack each puzzle, teaching her students to use variables and equations as detective tools. Ten-year-old Marcus becomes her eager assistant, learning that x doesn't have to be scary when it helps solve real problems. Together they discover that someone has been playing elaborate pranks, but the mathematical skills they develop along the way prove more valuable than catching the culprit. Sarah realizes that algebra belongs in elementary school when kids can see it working in their own lives.
Genres: fiction, contemporary, education, algebra, academic
Vibes: thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, problem-solving
Period: 21st-Century
Paperback