Bedtime Math: A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late

Bedtime Math: A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late by Laura Overdeck turns the classic bedtime reading routine on its head by replacing storybooks with fun, quirky math problems that kids actually want to solve. Based on the wildly popular Bedtime Math website and app (bedtimemath.org), this book brings the same spirit of playful mathematical thinking to a beautifully illustrated print format that families can enjoy together.

Each page features a fun topic — from exploding watermelons to roller coasters to baby animals — accompanied by a short, entertaining passage of real-world facts. Below the passage are math problems at three or four difficulty levels: Wee Ones (for the youngest children, roughly ages 3-4), Little Kids (ages 5-6), Big Kids (ages 7-8), and sometimes The Sky's the Limit (for older or more advanced students). This tiered approach means siblings of different ages can all participate in the same bedtime math session.

Laura Overdeck, a Princeton astrophysics graduate and mother of three, created Bedtime Math because she noticed that while most families read to their children every night, almost no one did math together for fun. Her mission is to make math a beloved part of children's daily lives — and the results speak for themselves. A Johns Hopkins study found that children who used the Bedtime Math app for even a few minutes a day showed measurably higher math achievement.

The problems in this book are not drill-and-kill exercises. They're designed to spark curiosity and show children that math is everywhere — in cooking, sports, animals, space, and all the things kids naturally find fascinating. The illustrations are colorful and engaging, and the tone is consistently playful and encouraging. For homeschooling families, this book is a wonderful supplement to any math curriculum, providing daily low-pressure math practice that feels more like play than school.