GRAPHS!

Simple introductions to common types of graphs and some of their distinctive features.

A visit to an amusement park serves as a frame story: Two children (one light-skinned, one brown-skinned) and their brown-skinned mother count the number of variously colored carriages on a Ferris wheel, cars in a bumper car rink, and kids over, at, and under the required height for a roller coaster; track changing temperatures over the course of a day; and poll visitors about their favorite rides. They then convert the data into single or double bar graphs and line graphs, a pictograph, or a pie chart as appropriate. One of the two temperature graphs is oriented with temperature along the x, rather than y, axis, so the line counterintuitively bulges to one side rather than going up and down, but the charts are otherwise easy to read, and the explanations about what they show and how each is particularly suited to different types of data (e.g., single figures, collective ones, changes over time, or parts of a whole) are clear. Along with the graphs themselves, Miller supplies simple views of rides and racially diverse groups of visitors so that readers can count along. A final set of examples with test questions (and answers at the bottom) offers a quick check on comprehension.

Charts helpful ways to visualize and express numerical data.