Christine of the lovely blog The Simple and the Ordinary wrote me a little while ago to ask for suggestions for good math resources that might appeal to her daughter. I recommended some books by Marilyn Burns which Jane has read to tatters:

(reprinted from Here in the Bonny Glen, October 2005)

Math for Smarty Pants by Marilyn Burns

Oh how my Jane adores this book, and others in the Brown Paper School Books series! Other favorites are:

I Hate Mathematics!

The Book of Think : Or How to Solve a Problem Twice Your Size

This Book Is About Time

I find her curled up in bed with these books at night. On long car
trips, it’s a sure bet that at least one of them makes the cut for her
travel bag. Once we loaned Math for Smarty Pants to a friend, and I
thought Jane was going to explode with impatience during the week or so
this precious book was out of her possession. She is constantly
regaling me with Fascinating Tidbits About Math and Other Stuff she has
picked up from one of the Brown Paper School books. The cartoony,
chatty style is what first roped her in, but it’s the wealth of
puzzles, tricks, and "really cool facts" that keeps drawing her back.

So how did Christine’s kids like them? You can find out in this post.