A Beautiful House for Birds

Under a sun-bright backyard where cardinals chatter like tiny critics, curious Olivia sets out to gift her neighborhood birds a burst of color, brushing bold stripes across a wooden roof until one stray stroke scrambles her perfect pattern—and sparks a lively math quest that readers can mimic atop any picnic table. Guided by Caldecott Honor creator Grace Lin and the STEM experts at TERC, A Beautiful House for Birds turns summer craft time into a playful lesson on symmetry, sequence, and creative grit, proving every kid can claim math as a paintbrush for problem-solving. Olivia’s tinkering echoes today’s push for Education Equity, showing families, teachers, and faith-based clubs how simple backyard projects dismantle “math anxiety” and welcome all learners to explore numbers without worksheets or worry. As each new hue slots into an eye-popping pattern, readers watch mistakes transform into design breakthroughs, learning that growth flaps its wings fastest when curiosity, resilience, and a dash of artistic mess join forces. Will your young builders peek into the finished birdhouse and spot new ways math brightens their own world, or let the lesson flutter away? Learn more and help every child measure, mix, and marvel.