A Very Improbable Story

A Very Improbable Story

Written by: Edward Einhorn

Illustrated by: Adam Gustavson

Brief Summary: What are the odds of waking up with a cat on your head? Throughout this witty story, Odds, a cat found on Ethan's head one morning, plays probability games with Ethan... the goal of these games? --trying to beat unlikely odds. For example: What are the odds that Ethan will pull 2 socks out of his drawer that match? Odds has declared that Ethan must first beat some very improbable odds in order for him jump off his head. Will the odds be beaten before Ethan has to leave for his soccer game?

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Math is a strong theme within this book. It would be a great book to read when introducing the idea of probability. In fact, perhaps a worksheet could be created that match the problems that Ethan encounters throughout the story. This would be a fun way to integrate reading and math into a lesson. The words: probability, improbable, and odds.. may all be new words for the students. It would be important to define these words before/when reading the story.

The first sentence of the book is attention grabbing...

One morning Ethan woke up with a cat on his head.

This unique sentence instantly draws the reader in and hopefully will encourage the reader to flip the page and continue reading. The illustrations within the story are realistic, page-filling, colorful, and they do a great job of keeping the reader entertained. The main character in the story is a boy; I find this to be interesting because often the subject of Math is related to boys rather than girls. Most children's books that I have read/seen to this point have females as the main character. I wonder if the author is playing off the stereotype of boys and math?

The recommended audience for this book is students between the ages of 7 and 10. I agree with this age range and would even extend it to 7-13. I think that any student learning about probability would find this book amusing and challenging.