2025 Mathical Award Winners
For Preschool students and early readers (PreK), Seven Little Ducklings by Annette LeBlanc Cate (Candlewick Press) follows a mother duck counting carefully as she collects her seven missing ducklings, but her flock grows as she unwittingly rescues more creatures along the way.
Young readers (Grades K-2) are invited to share their thought process — and sometimes whimsical ways — for tallying things up — as they explore colorful photos featuring mathematical groupings of everyday objects in How Did You Count? by two-time Mathical award-winner Christopher Danielson (Stenhouse Publishers).
Elementary readers (Grades 3-5) will be drawn into the playful, true story of a woman from Oregon whose childhood love of exploring patterns led to her many discoveries as a recreational mathematics hobbyist in The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice: How to Discover a Shape by Amy Alznauer, illustrated by Anna Bron (Candlewick Press).
Middle school readers (Grades 6-8) may be inspired by Imposter by Cait Levin (Charlesbridge), the story of two high school girls who join their school’s robotics team and make it to the national competition despite the doubts of others.
For young adults (Grades 9-12), Reasons We Break by Jesmeen Kaur Deo (Disney-Hyperion Books) is a high-stakes, romantic drama as a teen makes a desperate bargain to be bookkeeper to a gang, hoping to clear the debts of a troubled friend and keep him out of prison.