Too-Small Tyson (Storytelling Math)

Tyson is the youngest and the smallest in his family. He has three older, bigger brothers. Tyson has to take more steps than his brothers do to go the same distance. And while they let him play with them, they never seem to want his help. But Tyson is bigger than one thing: the family gerbil, Swish. When Swish gets out of his cage, everyone searches for him, but it’s Tyson who finds him. Swish is hiding in the back corner under Tyson’s bed, and Tyson can’t reach him. His brothers can’t either. But Tyson has an idea. He gets the tubes from Swish’s cage — the short, medium, and long tubes — and uses good math thinking to find a way.

JaNay Brown-Wood has written a cute story about being the youngest, being resilient, being very bright, but mostly being part of a family. Tyson’s story will delight young readers as they see Tyson deal with family issues and use math to solve a problem. For African-American youngsters, they will see characters who look like themselves in this charming book. This book is a winner on many levels and deserves a wide readership.