Review of The Land of Numbers
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The Children’s Book Review
The Land of Numbers: A Math Teaching Story for Pre-K and Kindergarten Children
Written by James V. DeLaura
Ages 4-7 | 24 Pages
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing Inc (2018) | ISBN-13: 978-1-64299-575-6
What to Expect: Math and Fantasy
The King of the Land of Numbers has decided to hold a grand ball. Everyone is very excited – this ball is going to be so much fun! The only trouble is that King 100 has not invited everyone – only the numbers 10 or higher are invited to the ball! While most of the numbers are rejoicing, numbers 1 through 9 are very sad indeed. They may be able to attend – but they will have to do some pretty creative math to make it work…
Math may not always be the most exciting – or the easiest – subject to learn. However, through a creative combination of storytelling, personification, and problem-solving, The Land of Numbers encourages readers to practice addition while hardly realizing they are doing so. Whimsical illustrations bring the numbers to life in gentle, fairytale pastels, helping them feel like relatable characters. The story also gently raises the issue of equality, offering opportunities for readers to practice empathy and inclusion as they consider the dilemma the lower numbers are placed in by the King’s autocratic decisions.
As readers work through the simple math problems alongside the characters, they will not only learn basic addition but also the subtle message that social equality is about working together to find creative solutions. Fun, engaging, and wholesome, this story is a great option for supporting young readers’ math literacy.
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A Note From the Author
In 1982, life was great. I had three children Eric 8, Dayna 6 and Evan just born. We were a very happy and healthy family. As Eric and Dayna grew up, I greatly enjoyed making up and telling them stories that I felt had educational value. Evan was just a little too young to understand or appreciate my endeavors. So again, life was great and then it suddenly came crashing down!
In May 1985, I received the most horrible news any parent could ever receive, my 3 year old son Evan was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma, children’s cancer. His life expectancy was one year and in May 1986, he passed away. The pain that we all experienced that year was only surpassed by the pain we endured the year following his death. His life ended and ours came close to that. I retired from NYPD and just spent the next year grieving with my family.
My stories temporarily died with Evan and weren’t mentioned for many years and remained so until Eric and Dayna married and started having children. With grandchildren now as a captive audience, my stories resurfaced. Occasionally, as I retold them, Dayna and Eric would encourage me to publish, but I never really entertained the idea.
When I finally returned to work, I embarked on a career as a Security Director. This 29 year second career lasted well into 2016 when I turned 70 and decided to retire for good.
One day at Dayna’s house, shortly after my retirement, the subject of publishing my stories came up again. I asked if she had any children’s books and she said plenty. After reading about a dozen, I realized that they were all very cute and interesting but not one had any educational value. It was at that very moment, I decided to give writing and publishing a try.
Without ever mentioning this to my children, I began my journey to becoming a published author. I accumulated a list of approximately 30 potential publishing companies and painstakingly reduced that number to 6 to whom I sent copies of “The Land of Numbers”. In return, I received 4 contracts. I ultimately selected Christian Faith and contracted with them to publish “The Land of Numbers” and most recently “Tippy the Turtle”.
Eric and Dayna had no idea that any of this was going on. It was one of the proudest and happiest days of my life when I presented to them a manila envelope and they opened it and pulled out a copy of “The Land of Numbers”.
For more information, visit https://christianfaithpublishing.com/books/?book=the-land-of-numbers
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