![]() The practice field was near a nature preserve and large dragonflies would often flit overhead while I caught pop flies. I played softball for eight years and spent hours on the practice field. I grew up in a suburb of Chicago, Homewood. Why insects and plants? I think that’s a two-part answer. The book came to me word-for-word while I was driving. She’d race inside to grab a pencil and try to grab the poem by its tail, sometimes writing the poems down word-for-word backwards. Stone, who was born in 1915, said she’d be out working in the fields and a poem would come rushing toward her. In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert talks about the American poet, Ruth Stone. How many dragonflies out and about? (This is no longer the first verse by the way.)” There was absolutely no planning involved. One by the weathervane, nine by the bugbane. On the way home in the car, the first verse came to me, “Dragonflies, dragonflies, zipping all about. She said, “I don’t want to write that book, you write it.” I mentioned the idea to a fellow member who was also writing a math book. The same day as the interview, I attended my writing group at night. This part of the 100 Bugs! story is much more magical than the initial idea arriving during an interview at school. Give me a day in the woods over a day in the city anytime.Īs a math teacher, I’ve got to know, how did you get the idea to relate bugs and plants to counting? ![]() Now, I know that is absolutely not the case at all. Up until that point, I had thought I was a city person. That’s when I realized I had to live in the country. As we would drive back into the city, I would feel more and more tense. Then, we started driving to a farm to get our vegetables. When I first had children, we lived in a small city in central Massachusetts. Exploring the woods after the games was such a treat. There’s a nature preserve near where I grew up called Isaac Walton. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved it. I don’t know what attracted me to the outdoors in the first place. But, I checked out a bunch of books about the number 100 and none of them featured the combinations of ten. ![]() I wondered how come no one had ever written a book about the ten combinations of ten? Surely, someone has done that I thought. My friend and colleague, Teresa Zuckerman, said that in order for kids to be successful in math, they have to understand the combinations of ten. It came while I was inside my school sitting on an interview committee for a math specialist. It’s funny the inspiration for 100 Bugs! did not come while I was outside. Was this how you got your inspiration for 100 Bugs!? And, do you know what attracted you to the outdoors in the first place? I’m so lucky to have the brilliant writer Kate Narita here toda y on the Math is Everywhere blog!įirst up, in your bio on your website, you share so many beautiful things about your life, including how much you enjoy the outdoors. As a math teacher, I highly recommend it! I was overjoyed because one, I got to learn something new, and two, my daughter would already know these names when she went out to explore the world!īy the end of the story, the sun has set, and everyone has learned all about bugs, plants, and things on a farm, but wait!-BONUS-we also did some math! What?! I know, it didn’t feel like it because we were having so much fun with everything else, but we counted, we grouped numbers, and we even composed the numbers to make the number ten every time.ġ00 Bugs! is a beautifully illustrated, intelligently written way to learn and have fun. Luckily, the phenomenal illustrations by Suzanne Kaufman made everything clear. The most amazing thing for me was that I had never heard of some of the plant or bug names before. Then we meet the beautifully illustrated characters who we joyously follow as we find different bugs and plants throughout the farm. When we open the book, we are instantly transported to another place where a gorgeous sun is rising over a lovely little farm. But, there is so, so much more than that! Haven’t heard about 100 Bugs! yet? Here’s a little synopsis and review by yours truly:ġ00 Bugs! is one of those amazing picture books that is WAY more than meets the eye. Retweet this post and follow Kate and me by 11-23-18 at 11:59pm West Coast time! (US addresses only) Two chances to win a signed copy of 100 Bugs! by Kate Narita, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman:Ģ.
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