As a math teacher who loves puzzles, I was really excited for the chance to check out The Infinite Pickle. Although I absolutely hate pickles (the food), I really enjoy puzzle-type pickles. The Infinite Pickle is a collection of 14 playful mathematical pickles. That doesn't sound like a lot, but each one is actually a family of puzzles. The easiest levels have been play-tested with early elementary (7-8-year-olds) and the harder ones were even a challenge for me.
This would be a great addition to a lot of math classrooms - warm-up puzzles, extra credit, challenges to change things up a bit, etc. When I was teaching middle school math we had "fun Fridays" which were all about logic and puzzles and games. One other thing I absolutely loved about this book was how it encouraged math exploration - including ways to help build confidence even in struggling students.
Even the page numbers are a puzzle of their own! The illustrations clearly show the puzzle, and there are ways to extend each puzzle in an infinite number of ways by making them bigger or changing other parameters.
I am definitely happy I got to check this book out, and I plan to order more copies for some of my math teacher friends!
About the Author
Gordon Hamilton is a father of two teenagers - professionally he is best known for the board game Santorini and being the founder of MathPickle.com. He lives in Calgary, Canada.
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