This blog post was originally written for the EduMatch Publishing Blog. Read the original blog post here.
My own journey as an author began with my debut children’s book, Everyone Can Learn Math. I found a need for a book about growth mindset specific to math and I took to filling that void on my own. The book has since sold thousands of copies and has encouraged children and grown-ups around the globe to embrace math learning. Since the launch of Everyone Can Learn Math, I have been asked countless times if there would be a second book. After a tremendous amount of work, I am proud to announce the release of my second children’s math fiction book, Let’s Explore Math: A Journey in Four Parts.
Why did you write this book?
My vision for Let’s Explore Math was to include elements of overcoming math anxiety that I wasn’t able to include in my first book. The primary piece that I wanted highlighted in this book was the idea of brain breaks and being in the right headspace to learn math. The idea here is that, if your math anxiety is taking up space in your mind, you don’t have enough space to be really thinking about the math.
Who is the intended audience for this book?
Let’s Explore Math: A Journey in Four Parts is a children’s book consisting of four short stories centred around solving math problems with friends. Each story includes a math problem with supporting visuals to help children follow through the math. Depending on the child’s level, these problems could be relevant to children ranging from six- to twelve-years-old.
What’s inside the book?
This book has so much to offer! There are four short stories to cover a math problem on multiplication, division, fractions, and money. Each part starts off with a vocabulary list for both math and reading words.
The stories are accompanied by beautiful watercolour illustrations by Alexandria Masse.
There are also visuals to help children and grown-ups follow through the solving of the math problems. In addition to the math problems, there are subtle nods to math embedded throughout the book.
Included at the back of the book is a guide for educators and parents. You will find discussion questions for before, during, and after reading each story. There are also extension questions with extra math problems to solve. These extra guides are sure to keep the math learning going on well past the end of the stories. And there is a list of my favourite free math resources to access online. This book will become an invaluable resource for any library – both in schools and in homes.
What is your favourite part of the book?
I love many things about this book including all the different ways the children find ways to clear their minds when they encounter a challenging math problem and how the children work through the math collaboratively. But my favourite part of this book is the message that joy can come from solving math problems.
Purchase your copy of Let’s Explore Math: A Journey in Four Parts now on Amazon bit.ly/letsexploremath or at any online bookstore.
Praise for the book:
Spread the math love <3
