Molly and the Mathematical Mystery

Molly is a curious explorer and finds that her bedroom is just the beginning of a fantastic journey through a mysterious house which she must navigate by solving mathematical puzzles. Finding clues and questions in a number of beautifully engineered card flaps, the reader follows Molly as she learns about a number of shape based mathematical systems including fractals, symmetry, inverses, paradoxes and many other fascinating concepts.

Readers may recognise Artymowska’s remarkably detailed and colourful illustration from books such as her puzzle-filled homage to Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and many others, and there’s a lot to appreciate here even just in the artwork. However, this is also a really fun and hands on book about maths concepts which upper primary aged kids will really enjoy. Books with flaps might seem babyish to this age group, but they’re done so artistically that it still works.

There’s a nice summary of the maths at the end too to make sure you understood what was going on in the different pages, too.