If you don’t find the answer to your question about the Mathical Readathon below, contact us at mathical@slmath.org!
What is Mathical?
Mathical is a children’s book prize and a book giveaway program.
We cultivate a book list that sparks a joy of math for children of all ages. We give away tens of thousands of free books annually to low-income children through Title I schools.
Which books are on the Mathical List?
The Mathical List features fiction and nonfiction for young people – including early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school. Over 150 titles are included. All of them inspire a love of math in the everyday world.
Mathical Books are not workbooks or textbooks. They are graphic novels, biographies, picture books, chapter books, and more.
We believe math belongs to all students. It is everywhere in the world around us. Join us!
What is the Mathical Readathon?
We are going to see how many books we can read together in the United States from September through December 2025.
All educators PreK-Grade 8 are eligible – no matter what subject you teach. Sign ups are welcome at any time.
Along the way, you can expect a bit of extra math and reading fun, with monthly blog posts cued to books selected from the Mathical List.
Which books count for the Readathon?
You can check to see if a book is included on this page. The Readathon focuses on Mathical Book Prize award-winning books.
Why are only certain books included?
All books have been carefully chosen by a committee of teachers, librarians, early childhood experts, mathematicians, and more.
The Mathical Books program is organized by the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath), a national resource for mathematics supported by the National Science Foundation.
The Mathical Book Prize is presented in partnership with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
Where can I find the books?
- Visit your school library or local public library
- Purchase books from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Bookshop page for Mathical
- Find audiobooks or read-alouds online (courtesy of author & publisher permission)
How can I receive free Mathical books?
Title I schools with library staff can apply for Mathical Collection Development Awards annually in early fall. Sign up for the Mathical newsletter to be notified, or watch this page on the School Library Journal website.
Are there incentives for the Readathon?
Yes, there are milestones for 10, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, or 1,000+ books read at your school.
How do we hit those big numbers?
- Have more than one teacher sign up from your school.
- Teachers of any grade level (PreK-8) are eligible.
- Teachers of any subject are eligible.
- Results are compiled within each school by the Mathical staff.
Do read-alouds count?
Yes! If you have 20 students and you read a book aloud, each student would record the read-aloud as one book. So, you would record 20 “books read.”
Just think how many books we can enjoy reading together with those read-alouds!
What about student rewards?
Classroom tools include downloadable and printable PDFs of:
- An 8.5 x 14″ classroom calendar poster (to track your class’s reading each month)
- An 8.5 x 11″ journal page, which serves as a student log to track books read
Each month, you will receive a link to a blog post with classroom resources to share a love of playful math & reading with your students. Activities range from PreK, through Elementary & Middle School.
Can I see the Mathical List organized by grade level / math topic / reading difficulty (lexile level) / genre / format / etc.?
GRADE LEVEL: Yes, you can get a rough idea based on the grade levels for which the Mathical Award (or Honor Book status) was given. You can search the Mathical List by grade level on the Mathical site.
MATH TOPIC: The best starting place we have at the moment is the collection of reading guides published on the Mathical website.
READING DIFFICULTY, GENRE/FORMAT, ETC: For more detailed information, we recommend the free resources at Teaching Books. The full Mathical List is comprehensively cataloged on their website, and we thank them.
Can I see the Mathical List organized by Spanish language translation availability?
You can see a list of Mathical award-winning books which have Spanish language translations at this blog post on the Mathical website.
Can I sign up for the Mathical Readathon if I’m not located in the United States / if I’m homeschooling?
We will not turn anyone away. You are welcome to sign up for the Readathon so you receive all the communications (all the fun stuff, resources, etc.)
For counting up total reads & “official results,” only qualifying classrooms will be tallied.
Can I download a sortable copy of the Mathical List, to make my own notations?
Yes! You can easily do this at the Teaching Books website. The full Mathical List is comprehensively cataloged on their website, and we thank them.