List

Full list of books

The books on this page are the full list of books recommended for Primary children to explore a variety of different mathematical topics. You can see other collections of books on our Bookcase Maths page.

book
Ages
3-5

Billy's Bucket

Billy can see all kinds of amazing things in his bucket, including seven sea lions and a walrus. His parents think he just has a big imagination - but when they borrow his bucket, they're in for a surprise!

Dogger
book

Dogger

Not much mathematical content
book
Ages
3-7

Henry's Map

Henry the pig likes knowing exactly where everything is. But when he looks out of the window, the farm is a mess! Follow Henry's story as he draws a map to show where everything in the farm should be.

book
Ages
3-7

The Bad-Tempered Ladybird

The bad-tempered ladybird tries to fight bigger and bigger animals throughout the day - but will it win a fight against the biggest animal of all?

book
Ages
3-5

Rosie's Walk

This simple but captivating story uses positional language to describe Rosie the hen's walk. Rosie is wonderfully oblivious to the fact she is being pursued!

10 Little Rubber Ducks
book

10 little rubber ducks

Find out what happens to a box of ten rubber ducks after they fall off a cargo ship. This book offers a context in which to explore counting and ordinal numbers.
Cluck O'Clock
book

Cluck o'clock

It's 4 o'cluck in the morning. Another day is dawning... Follow the chickens in this story and find out what they do around the farm at different times of day!
book
Ages
3-7

How Big is a Million?

Pipkin is a small penguin who asks big questions. He wants to know how big a million is! He finds ten fish, a hundred penguins in a huddle and a thousand snowflakes... but will he find a million of anything?

Is \It Larger? Is \It Smaller?
book

Is it larger? is it smaller?

Is it larger? Is it smaller? Have a look at the pictures in this book and compare the sizes of the objects!
book
Ages
3-5

Anno's Counting Book

Explore how a village changes over twelve seasons in this beautiful watercolour counting book.

book
Ages
3-7

Balancing Act

This book builds on children's experience of seesaws and balancing. Join the two mice who make a seesaw (or teeter totter) and see what happens as their friends hop on too.

book

Ten Apples Up On Top

In this captivating rhyming story, a dog, a lion and a tiger all try to balance ten apples on their heads while tightrope walking and roller skating!

book
Ages
3-7

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

Pete the cat wears his favourite shirt with four groovy buttons. But what happens when one of the buttons pops off and rolls away? This story introduces children to subtraction number sentences.

book
Ages
5-11

Spaghetti and Meatballs for All!

Mr and Mrs Comfort have a total of 32 people coming to their family reunion - but how should they arrange the tables so that there is room for everyone?

book
Ages
5-11

365 Penguins

On the morning of New Year's Day, a delivery arrives. When the box is opened, it turns out there's a penguin inside! Every day for the rest of the year, a new penguin is delivered, which causes the family some problems...

Splash!
book

Splash!

How many animals are in my pond? Follow the story and find out, as different animals fall into the pond and jump out again!
The Odd Egg
book

The odd egg

All the birds have eggs to hatch except Duck... until he finds an egg to look after! In this quirky story, children can explore the shapes and sizes of different eggs.
book
Ages
3-7

One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab

This 'counting by feet' book offers opportunities to focus on counting and introduce multiplication with its entertaining illustrations.

book
Ages
3-5

Kipper's Toybox

Kipper counts out all of his favourite toys, but the number he gets isn't the number he was expecting... are all of Kipper's favourite toys in the box?

Millie's Marvellous Hat
book

Millie's marvellous hat

Millie wants to buy a hat with colourful feathers, but she doesn't have enough money. Instead, the shopkeeper gives her a hat that can be any shape or size she wants - she only has to imagine it!
book
Ages
3-7

The Doorbell Rang

Ma has made plenty of cookies for her children, but then the doorbell rings. And rings... And rings... This book is perfect for discussing sharing equally.

book
Ages
3-5

Dog's Colourful Day

Dog is white with one black spot on his left ear. Throughout the day, Dog gets very messy, and by the end he is covered with lots of different coloured spots! Can you count them all?

Aliens Love Underpants!
book

Aliens love underpants!

When aliens fly down to Earth, they aren't coming to meet YOU... they just want your underpants! This humorous story involves underpants of all shapes and sizes.
book
Ages
3-7

The Shopping Basket

With Steven having to fend off various animals on his way back from the shops, he arrives home with fewer items than his mum requested. This book is a great context in which to count, and in particular to talk about 'one less'.

book
Ages
3-7

Walter's Wonderful Web

Walter the spider wants to spin a perfect web, so he tries making webs of different shapes and sizes. Will he end up with a wonderful web?

book
Ages
5-11

Einstein, The Girl Who Hated Maths

Einstein is a girl who hates maths, but she likes cats - and it turns out maths can be useful in lots of situations, including calculating how many lives her cats have! This book contains a variety of different poems, both about Einstein and about lots of other mathematical ideas.

book
Ages
3-7

The Secret Birthday Message

On the night before Tim's birthday, he finds a secret message under his pillow! Can you work out what the different shapes in the message mean to help Tim find his birthday present?

Nigel's Numberless World
book

Nigel's numberless world

Nigel's new watch makes all the numbers in the world disappear! Will this help to persuade him that numbers are useful after all?
book
Ages
3-7

Color Zoo

When we turn the page to remove a layer, what animal will the picture show now? And what shape will be removed? Have a look at the colour zoo to find out!

book
Ages
3-5

Handa's Surprise

Handa carries a basket of seven different fruits to her friend. As she makes her journey, seven different animals each steal a fruit from her basket! This richly illustrated book is an engaging context in which children can explore the concept of 'one less'.

book
Ages
3-11

Grandpa's Quilt

Grandpa is so long and thin that his quilt doesn't cover his toes. This story tells of his grandchildren's attempts to change the shape of the quilt so he is toasty from head to foot.

Shoe Baby
book

Shoe baby

Not much mathematical content
book
Ages
3-7

Five Minutes' Peace

Mrs Large the elephant wants five minutes' peace away from her three children... but they keep interrupting her!

book
Ages
3-7

The Great Pet Sale

This book tells the story of a pet shop where lots of animals are for sale at a variety of prices - but which will the boy choose?

book
Ages
5-11

Katie Morag and the Birthdays

In January there is a special day on the Isle of Struay - it is Flora Ann McColl's first birthday. Katie Morag is very excited, but she can't help asking, "When will it be MY birthday?" Follow the story through the different months of the year to find out when Katie Morag's birthday is.

book
Ages
3-7

Lucy in the City

Lucy the raccoon is in the city one night looking for food with her family. But when they leave her behind by mistake, she has to find her way home with the help of a friendly owl who gives her directions.

book
Ages
3-5

Ten Black Dots

What can you do with ten black dots? Lots of things! Follow the pictures and count the dots in each one, all the way up to ten.
book
Ages
3-5

Maisy Goes Camping

Maisy and her friends put up a tent to go camping in. But how many of them can fit in the tent at once?
book
Ages
3-5

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

In this engaging classic picture book, children are invited to use their fingers to explore the numbers up to five.
book
Ages
3-5

I Spy Numbers

In this book, each photograph contains a big numeral from 1 to 9 surrounded by lots of small objects. Can you see how each object is related to the number in the middle?
book
Ages
3-5

Handa’s Surprise

Handa carries a basket of seven different fruits to her friend. As she makes her journey, seven different animals each steal a fruit from her basket! This richly illustrated book is an engaging context in which children can explore the concept of 'one less'.
book
Ages
3-5

Who Sank the Boat?

In this book, five animals get into a boat - but which animal causes the boat to sink?
book
Ages
3-5

Rosie’s Walk

This simple but captivating story uses positional language to describe Rosie the hen's walk. Rosie is wonderfully oblivious to the fact she is being pursued!
book
Ages
3-5

Billy’s Bucket

Billy can see all kinds of amazing things in his bucket, including seven sea lions and a walrus. His parents think he just has a big imagination - but when they borrow his bucket, they're in for a surprise!
book
Ages
3-5

Handa's Hen

Handa's hen has gone missing! While she's looking for her hen, Handa finds lots of groups of animals that she can count - two butterflies, three mice, four lizards...
book
Ages
3-5

One Gorilla: A Counting Book

One gorilla, two orangutans, three chimpanzees... This counting to ten book focuses on members of the primate family.
book
Ages
3-5

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

This book offers a context in which to count to 10 using pictures of children from all over the world, as well as the reader's own fingers and toes.
book
Ages
3-5

Ten Terrible Dinosaurs

Ten terrible dinosaurs standing in a line, soon began to mess about, until there were... nine! Find out what happens as the dinosaurs leave, one by one, until there is just one dinosaur left.
book
Ages
3-5

Titch

Titch is smaller than Mary and Pete, and everything he has is smaller than theirs too. But then Titch plants a seed...
book
Ages
3-5

Anno’s Counting Book

Explore how a village changes over twelve seasons in this beautiful watercolour counting book.
book
Ages
3-5

Biscuit Bear

When Horace bakes a biscuit in the shape of a bear, it comes alive in the night! Then Biscuit Bear decides to bake some friends...
book
Ages
3-5

Abigail

Abigail loves to count. She tries to count the dots on the ladybug and the zebra's stripes, but they won't stay still! Will Abigail find something she can count?
book
Ages
3-5

Dear Zoo

This humorous lift-the-flap book provides opportunities for conversations about size as the perfect pet is sought.
book
Ages
3-5

One to Ten and Back Again

The colourful pictures in this book tell the story of two friends, Nick and Sue, who show us all their favourite things by counting them from one to ten and back.
book
Ages
3-5

Cook It!

What's for dinner? Will you help me choose? Follow the story of one family cooking dinner, all the way from making a list and going to the shops to putting the food in the oven and eating it.
book
Ages
3-5

Mouse Count

One fine day, ten little mice took a nap in a meadow. Along came a hungry snake, who counted the mice into a jar for his dinner. How will the mice escape?
book
Ages
3-5

Kipper’s Toybox

Kipper counts out all of his favourite toys, but the number he gets isn't the number he was expecting... are all of Kipper's favourite toys in the box?
book
Ages
3-5

Dog’s Colorful Day

Dog is white with one black spot on his left ear. Throughout the day, Dog gets very messy, and by the end he is covered with lots of different coloured spots! Can you count them all?
book
Ages
7-11

The Rabbit Problem

This picture book looks at the number of rabbits in Fibonacci's field as they have more and more babies throughout the year!
book
Ages
7-11

The Number Devil

Robert hates everything to do with numbers. Then one night, he meets the number devil in his dreams, and he learns that numbers can be much more interesting than he ever imagined...
book
Ages
7-11

The Phantom Tollbooth

In this story, Milo goes on an adventure to the strange lands of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis - but can he rescue Rhyme and Reason so that everything starts making sense again?
book
Ages
7-11

Infinity and Me

Uma wonders about the idea of infinity. What does it mean? How can we imagine infinity? This book talks about the idea of infinity in lots of different ways.