Awesum Alex, Math Detective: The Addition Problem

Alex, a precocious fifth-grade math detective, embarks on a mathematical mystery. The adventure leads her to question the tradition of adding the right-hand column of numbers first in an addition problem and opens up a new understanding for her about the ways in which we do math. Alex wants to know the why of arithmetic, not just the how, and her story forms an elementary math text that welcomes children into the story and provides them with valuable information that they are unlikely to find just about anywhere else. This book includes both the novel and an instructor section, in which the authors explain how to make addition at once comprehensible and exciting to children.