Reddit mentions of Math Curse

"Remember your training."

1. Assess the situation.
   
2. Evaluate your resources.
   
3. Make a plan.
   
4. Execute.
   
   O.K., step 1
   I am trapped in a window-less, door-less room. I was dropped from the ceiling, 15 feet above me.
   
   Step 2
   A chair - the kind school children use, with a fold out arm for taking notes. From the desperate scribbling on it, it seems the lesson was on fractions. Height - about 3 feet. Weight - perhaps 20 pounds. Uses - climbing, battering ram, hanging myself?
   
   Dental floss - one long strand. Cheap quality, probably made overseas. Length - about 6 inches. Weight - perhaps an ounce. Uses - cleaning my teeth (maybe I need to look good to escape?), tying objects together, cutting into lengths, hanging myself?
   
   There seems to be a depressing trend, but one object remains, and it is the most promising!
   
   Knife - one standard issue pocket knife. No multi-tool attachment. Length - 6 inches. Weight - perhaps half a pound. Uses - cutting things, cutting the wall, throwing at things, cutting myself? Sharpness - dull. Not just a little dull, extremely dull.
   
   "You have 30 minutes remaining"
   
   O.K., plan time. Throw the chair against the wall repeatedly. When an indention is made, cut through the wall with the knife. Floss my teeth and escape.
   
   I didn't say it was the world's best plan, but it would work. Time to start bashing the wall.
   
   "You have 20 minutes remaining"
   
   Wow, this is slow going. I've peeled some paint off, but no luck yet. Better pick up the pace.
   
   "You have 10 minutes remaining"
   
   O.K., for better or worse it is time for the knife. Time to hack away with a blade so dull it could barely cut the dental floss, much less a wall.
   
   "You have 5 minutes remaining"
   
   This isn't working. I am going to fail. I have so much more to go. It would take days, if not weeks at this pace.
   
   "You have 1 minute remaining"
   
   I give up. I'm out of options. They win. I have just enough time for a quick power nap before they come and snatch me. Time to sleep for the last time.
   
   It is fitting, I guess, that my last nap of the day would be in a school desk. I wonder how many bright young minds slept here? Apparently Tommy loved Emily and Joey has a butt.
   
   "You have 30 seconds remaining"
   
   I never understood fractions in school. The desk seems determined to mock my existence up to the last second.
   1 is a real number.
   1 is an integer.
   1 is a whole number.
   1/5 + 1/5 + 1/5 + 1/5 + 1/5 = 1.
   1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 = 1.
   1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 1.
   1/2 + 1/2 = 1.
   
   "You have 15 seconds remaining"
   
   Wait, that's it! I get it know! I understand fractions! I know how to escape!
   
   It couldn't be more simple. 1 is a whole number. 1/2 + 1/2 = 1, and 1 is a whole number! Eureka!
   
   Desperately, I sprint across the room to the knife I left in the corner. Now, where is the dental floss? I have never needed floss so badly in my entire life.
   
   "6...5...4"
   
   I must cut the floss in two. Quickly, quickly now. There it goes! Now I have 2 pieces of dental floss, each half the length of the original.
   
   "3...2...1"
   
   I put the halves of floss together on the wall and walk out the other side. I've done it! I survived the final exam!"
   
   You see, at the end, it was elementary fractions that saved me. Two halves make a whole, and a hole in the wall let me escape.
   
   I love math!
   
   ___
   
   Thanks for the prompt! Hopefully you don't mind my more lighthearted take on it :).
   I got my inspiration from Math Curse, one of my favorite books growing up.
   
   If you like bad puns or stories that make you think, check out r/mrme487

This made me realize how reading-oriented elementary schools...or maybe were when I was in school! If we finished something early, we were expected to have a book to read. Why not have a math binder to pull out if kids are done early? Anyway, got me thinking that maybe there are some math-oriented books (as in, not workbooks, but story books) out there that could interest your kiddo with some different math concepts. Here's some stuff I found (apologies for the ridiculously long links--also, I didn't look too closely at grade levels, so some may be for a few years down the road, or for you and him to read together):

Edgar Allan Poe's Pie: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=BVtKBx-i4JgC&source=productsearch&utm_source=HA_Desktop_US&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=PLA&pcampaignid=MKTAD0930BO1&gclid=CNGTu7vn5tQCFcTYMgodOiMETA&gclsrc=ds&dclid=CLzhyrvn5tQCFUI4TwodifYMVA

Marvelous Math: https://www.amazon.com/Marvelous-Math-Poems-Aladdin-Picture/dp/0689844425/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EM0RCMS3HQB5S8D0WWM2

Math Curse (by Jon Scieszka, one of my favorites!): https://www.amazon.com/Math-Curse-Jon-Scieszka/dp/0670861944/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EM0RCMS3HQB5S8D0WWM2

The Grapes of Math (this author has a series of math books): https://www.amazon.com/Grapes-Math-Greg-Tang/dp/0439598400/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EM0RCMS3HQB5S8D0WWM2

Sir Cumference (this one's a series): https://www.amazon.com/Sir-Cumference-Dragon-Math-Adventure/dp/1570911649/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1570911649&pd_rd_r=EM0RCMS3HQB5S8D0WWM2&pd_rd_w=9UJOK&pd_rd_wg=1NeuV&psc=1&refRID=EM0RCMS3HQB5S8D0WWM2

I didn't look through that list thoroughly, but my family's favorite is Math Curse It is pretty fun

The King's Chessboard - Exponents

Math Curse - Word Problems.

Grandfather Tang - Tangrams.

The Grapes of Math - Number sense and multiplication. This author has lots of others as well.

The M&M Math Book - Counting, shapes, early number sense.

How much is a million? - Complex numbers. I think there's a sequel out too.

Sir Cumference and the First Round Table - Geometry. There is an entire Sir Cumference series.

So many more, but those are off the top of my head. Follow the Amazon links and click through related books. You'll find a ton.

All Jon Scienska stuff it great. But my favorite is Math Curse.

http://www.amazon.com/Math-Curse-Jon-Scieszka/dp/0670861944