The math curse is a phenomenon that affects many students and individuals who struggle with mathematics. It is a feeling of being overwhelmed, anxious, and frustrated when faced with math problems or concepts. For some people, the math curse begins early on in their education. They may struggle to understand basic math operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. As they progress to more advanced concepts like algebra, geometry, and calculus, the curse becomes even more pronounced. The math curse can have a negative impact on a person's self-esteem and academic performance.
Ages: 7-11
Call number: JChapter Pilke.D
About the book When George and Harold hypnotize their principal into thinking that he is the superhero Captain Underpants, he leads them to the lair of the nefarious Dr. This effect also underlies the sad case of facilitated communication , a fad whereby carers believed they could help severely disabled children communicate by guiding their fingers around a keyboard.
The math curse can have a negative impact on a person's self-esteem and academic performance. Students who believe that they are "bad at math" may avoid taking math courses or pursuing careers that require a strong math background. This can limit their opportunities and potential for success in various fields such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Shhhh! These Kid’s Books Have Been Banned (or Challenged)
About the book: Callie rides an emotional roller coaster while serving on the stage crew for a middle school production of Moon over Mississippi as various relationships start and end, and others never quite get going.
About the ban: This book has been banned several times in Texas schools and libraries for its inclusion of LGBTQIA+ content and concerns that it goes against “family values/morals.”
Ages: 7-12
Call number: JGraphic Telge.R
Title: Worm Loves Worm
By: J.J Austrian
Published: 2014
About the book: Two worms in love decide to get married, and with help from Cricket, Beetle, Spider, and the Bees they have everything they need and more, but which one will be the bride and which the groom?
About the ban: This book has been challenged for LGBTQIA+ content.
Ages: 4-8
Call number: JPicture Austr.J
Title: The Adventures of Captain Underpants (series)
By: Dav Pilkey
Published: 1997
About the book: When George and Harold hypnotize their principal into thinking that he is the superhero Captain Underpants, he leads them to the lair of the nefarious Dr. Diaper, where they must defeat his evil robot henchmen.
About the ban: The series overall was challenged for encouraging disruptive behavior, while Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot was challenged for featuring a same-sex married couple.
Ages: 7-11
Call number: JChapter Pilke.D
Title: The Watsons go to Burmingham
By: Christopher Paul Curtis
Published: 1995
About the book: The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
About the ban: This book has been challenged for "inappropriate language and violence."
Ages: 11 and up
Call number: J Curti.C
Title: This Day in June
By: Gayle Pitman
Published: 2014
About the book: A picture book illustrating a Pride parade. The endmatter serves as a primer on LGBT history and culture and explains the references made in the story.
About the ban: This book has been challenged for its inclusion of LGBTQIA+ content. In 2019, a local religious activist checked out four copies of the book from the Orange City Public Library and burned them live over Facebook. However, not only did people send in donations to help replace the books, a GoFundMe and several Facebook fundraisers were set up, raising thousands of dollars to replace damaged materials.
Ages: 4-8
Call number: JPicture Pitma.G
Title: Melissa
By: Alex Gino
Published: 2015
About the book: When people look at Melissa, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. Melissa thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. Melissa really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part . because she's a boy. With the help of her best friend, Kelly, Melissa comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte -- but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.
About the ban: This book has been challenged, restricted and banned for LGBTQIA+ content, conflicting with a religious viewpoint, and not reflecting “the values of our community.” In 2017, author, Alex Gino even raised money to purchase copies of the book when administration for Wichita, Kansas school district restricted school librarians from using system funds to purchase the book.
Ages: 8-12
Call number: J Gino.A
Title: Prince & Knight
By: Daniel Haack
Published: 2018
About the book: A prince and a knight in shining armor find true love in each other's embrace after fighting a dragon together.
About the ban: This book was challenged and restricted for featuring a gay marriage and LGBTQIA+ content.
Ages: 4-8
Call number: JPicture Haack.D
Title: Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry
By: Mildred D. Taylor
Published: 1976
About the book: A black family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand.
About the ban: This book has been banned and challenged to be removed from many school libraries for its "harsh depictions of racism and its use of racial slurs."
Ages: 11 and up
Call number: J Taylo.M
Title: The Lorax
By: Dr. Seuss
Published: 1971
About the book: The Once-ler describes the results of the local pollution problem.
About the ban: In 1989, a parent who owned a logging company tried to have the Dr. Seuss book The Lorax banned from the Laytonville Elementary School reading list on grounds that it was “anti-logging."
Ages: 4-8
Call number: JPicture Seuss.D
Title: The Giving Tree
By: Shel Silverstein
Published: 1964
About the book: A young boy grows to manhood and old age experiencing the love and generosity of a tree which gives to him without thought of return.
About the ban: In 1988, the book was banned from a Colorado public library, who argued that the book was sexist.
Ages: 6-8
Call number: JPicture Silve.S
Title: Something Happened in our Town: A Child's Story about Racial Injustice
By: Jessica Herthel
Published: 2014
About the book: After discussing the police shooting of a local Black man with their families, Emma and Josh know how to treat a new student who looks and speaks differently than his classmates. It It includes an extensive Note to Parents and Caregivers that provides general guidance about addressing racism with children, child-friendly vocabulary definitions, conversation guides, and a link to additional online resources for parents and teachers.
About the ban: This book was challenged for “divisive language” and because it was thought to promote anti-police views
Ages: 4-8
Call number: JPicture Celan.M (Children's Parenting)
Title: Walter the Farting Dog: Banned from the Beach
By: William Kotzwinkle
Published: 2007
About the Book: Although confined to a hotel room after his flatuence offends the patrons of a beach resort, Walter the farting dog makes an explosive sea rescue to save little Billy and Betty.
About the Ban: This book was challenged for ‘using the words “fart” and farting” twenty-four times’
Ages: 4-8
JPicture Kotzw.W
Title: I Am Jazz
By: Jessica Herthel
Published: 2018
About the book: This book is the true-life story of Jazz Jennings, a child who, in her own words, was born with “a girl’s brain and a boy’s body" and follows the gradual acceptance by Jazz’s parents and teachers of her transgender reality.
About the ban: This book was banned, restricted, or challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, for a transgender character, and for confronting a topic that is 'sensitive, controversial, and politically charged.'
Ages: 5-11
Call number: xBiog Jenni.J Herth.J
Title: A Wrinkle in Time
By: Madeleine L'engle
Published: 1962
About the book: Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.
About the ban: This book was challenged to be removed from a Florida elementary school library for “opposing Christian beliefs and teaches occult practices,”
Ages: 10 and up
Call number: J Lengl.M
Title: And Tango Makes Three
By: Justin Richardson
Published: 2005
About the book: At the New York City's Central Park Zoo, two male penguins fall in love and start a family by taking turns sitting on an abandoned egg until it hatches.
About the ban: This book was challenged and restricted for including LGBTQIA+ content.
Ages: 4-8
Call number: JPicture Richa.J
Title: Sex is a Funny Word: A Book About Bodies, Feelings and YOU!
By: Cory Silverberg
Published: 2015
About the book: A comic book for kids that includes children and families of all makeups, orientations, and gender identities, Sex Is a Funny Word is an essential resource about bodies, gender, and sexuality for children ages 8 to 10 as well as their parents and caregivers. Much more than the "facts of life" or "the birds and the bees, " Sex Is a Funny Word opens up conversations between young people and their caregivers in a way that allows adults to convey their values and beliefs while providing information about boundaries, safety, and joy.
About the ban: This book was challenged banned, and relocated for LGBTQIA+ content; for discussing gender identity and sex education; and for concerns that the title and illustrations were “inappropriate”
Ages: 8 -10
Call number: x612.6 Silve.C
Title: The Family Book
By: Todd Parr
Published: 2003
About the book: Represents a variety of families, some big and some small, some with only one parent and some with two moms or dads, some quiet and some noisy, but all alike in some ways and special no matter what.
About the ban: This book was banned from an Illinois school district because of a reference to same-sex parents.
Ages: 3-5
Call number: JPicture Parr.T
Title: A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo
By: Marlon Bundo
Published: 2018
About the book: Meet Marlon Bundo, a lonely bunny who lives at the Naval Observatory with his Grampa, the Vice President of the United States. But on this Very Special Day, Marlon's life is about to change forever.
About the ban: This book was challenged and vandalized for LGBTQIA+ content and political viewpoints,
Ages: 4-9
Call number: JPicture Bundo.M
Title: Harry Potter (series)
By: J.K Rowling
Published: 1998
About the book: Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
About the ban: This book was banned banned and forbidden from discussion for referring to magic and witchcraft, for containing actual cursed and spells, and for characters that use “nefarious means” to attain goals.
Ages: 9-12
Call number: J Rowli.J
Title: Hop on Pop
By: Dr. Seuss
Published: 1991
About the book: Pairs of rhyming words are introduced and used in simple sentences, such as "Day. Play. We play all day. Night. Fight. We fight all night."
About the ban: In 2014 formal complaint was sent to Toronto Public Library claiming that the book “encourages children to use violence against their fathers” by hopping on them.
Ages: 3-8
Call number: JBegin Seuss.D
Title: The Stupids Step Out
By: Harry Allard
Published: 1972
About the book: The Stupid family and their dog Kitty have a fun-filled day doing ridiculous things.
About the ban: This book was challenged for reinforcing negative behavior, promoting low self-esteem, encouraging disrespect for authority, use of the word "stupid."
Ages: 4-7
Call number: JPicture Allar.H
Title: Jacob's New Dress
By: Sarah Hoffman
Published: 2014
About the book: Jacob, who likes to wear dresses at home, convinces his parents to let him wear a dress to school, too.
About the ban: This book was banned from a North Carolina school district on the grounds it was “a tool of indoctrination to normalize transgender behavior.”
Ages: 4-7
Call number: JPicture Allar.H
Title: Harriet the Spy
By: Louise Fitzhugh
Published: 1964
About the book: Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. She's staked out a spy route, and she writes down everything about everyone she sees -- including her classmates and her best friends -- in her notebook. Then Harriet loses track of her notebook, and it ends up in the wrong hands. Before Harriet can stop them, her friends have read the always truthful, sometimes awful things she's written about each of them. Will Harriet find a way to put her life and her friendships back together?
About the ban: In1983, the book was challenged during a school board meeting in Xenia, Ohio, where some argued the book encouraged bad behavior.
Ages: 8-12
Call number: J Fitzh.L
Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.
About the ban: This book was challenged and restricted for featuring a gay marriage and LGBTQIA+ content.
The math curse is not limited to students. Many adults also experience anxiety when faced with math-related tasks, such as managing finances, calculating measurements, or understanding statistical data. This can create barriers in their personal and professional lives, affecting their ability to make informed decisions or solve problems efficiently. While the math curse can feel overwhelming, it is important to remember that it can be overcome. Seeking help from teachers, tutors, or math resources can provide the guidance and support needed to improve math skills and confidence. Developing a growth mindset and practicing regularly can also help to break the curse and develop a more positive attitude towards math. Ultimately, it is essential to understand that the math curse is not a reflection of intelligence or worth. With perseverance and the right support, anyone can conquer their math curse and discover the beauty and usefulness of mathematics in their everyday lives..
Reviews for "The Math Behind Cryptography: Exploring the Science of Codes"
1. Sarah - 1 star
I found "The Math Curse" to be extremely confusing and difficult to follow. The author's attempt to intertwine math concepts with a story fell flat, as it only served to make the book more convoluted. The illustrations were lacking in clarity, making it even more challenging to understand the math concepts being discussed. Overall, I was disappointed with this book and would not recommend it to anyone seeking a clear and engaging introduction to math.
2. John - 2 stars
As an educator, I had high hopes for "The Math Curse" in terms of its potential to make math more interesting for young readers. However, I was let down by the book's execution. The story line was disjointed and lacked a cohesive narrative flow, making it difficult for students to engage with the math concepts being presented. Additionally, the illustrations did not effectively complement the text, which further hindered comprehension. While I appreciate the intention behind "The Math Curse," it unfortunately did not resonate with me or my students.
3. Emily - 2 stars
I struggled to connect with "The Math Curse" due to its overly complex language and lack of clarity. The book seemed to assume that readers already had a certain level of mathematical knowledge, which left me feeling lost and frustrated. Additionally, the illustrations did not add any value to the story and appeared distracting rather than enhancing the text. Overall, I believe "The Math Curse" missed the mark in terms of accessibility and failed to effectively engage readers, especially those who may be struggling with math concepts.
4. Michael - 3 stars
While "The Math Curse" had an interesting concept, I found the execution to be lacking. The story was confusing, jumping from one idea to another without clear transitions, and I struggled to follow the math concepts being introduced. The illustrations were also underwhelming and did not capture my attention. I think the book had potential, but it needed better organization and clearer explanations to truly engage readers and help them understand math in a more accessible way.