Chapter Book #13 - 7X9 = Trouble

Author: Claudia Mills

Illustrator: G. Brian Karas

Genre: fiction

Sub genre: Realistic Fiction

Theme: Multiplication

Primary and secondary characters: Wilson

Awards: 

Publication Date: 2002

Publishing Company: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

     Multiplication....a bad word in many 3rd graders vocabulary, especially Wilson William's. Wilson hates multiplication because he can never quite figure it out, sometimes he even wishes he was more like his two siblings who seemed to do things more easily than him. His two comforts are his friend Josh and the class pet, Squiggles. Wilson struggles and struggles in hopes that he will eventually be able to recieve the coveted award, an ice cream cone, for passing. He is thinking all is lost, but help comes from where he never would have expected. 

     Many 3rd graders will be able to relate to Wilson. Third grade can be tough, especially when it comes to learning the seemingly countless multiplication tables. This book would be a great way to add literature to a math lesson. This students could begin to keep a journal while they are reading the book and learning the multiplication tables themselves. They could write how they feel about multiplication and compair their feelings with Wilson's. This would give them a source to show how they feel about learning something new that they can look back on at the end of the school year and see how they grew.