Counting on Genre: Exploring Mother–Child Math Talk During Shared Reading of Narrative and Information Picturebooks

Research shows that parent–child shared reading may create opportunities for early math learning, yet less is known about how reading different picturebook genres, such as narratives and information books, may promote math learning opportunities. Understanding how book genre influences mother–child math talk can help identify additional ways to leverage shared reading to support math development. Therefore, the present mixed-methods study investigated how the shared reading of narrative and information genre picturebooks related to the frequency and nature of mother–child math talk. This study utilized transcripts from 45 mother–child (M = 60.4 months; SD = 6.84) shared reading sessions among English-speaking families in Israel. Each mother–child dyad read two sets of narrative and information books characterized by genre-specific features, which were matched by theme—apples, ice cream, seasons, and animals in winter. The quantitative results indicated significantly more math talk during the shared reading of information books compared to narratives, beyond the contribution of paired book themes and total extratextual utterances. Qualitative coding was conducted iteratively with ChatGPT Codex used as an analytic support tool; suggestions for codes including references to counting, numbers, measurement, size, and comparison were proposed and evaluated by the authors. The qualitative analysis yielded four main themes: (1) Math talk prompted by math content that appears in books; (2) Genre-specific characteristics that promote different kinds of math talk; (3) The function of math talk, comprising noticing, explaining, and scaffolding; and (4) The child-led co-construction of math learning. These findings suggest that everyday picturebooks can support mother–child math talk, with genre influencing the mathematical opportunities available and mother–child interactions surrounding these opportunities.