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Math Fun
If You Were an Odd Number
If you were an odd number, you could not be evenly divided by two. You could be one bright sun or seven colors in a rainbow. What else could you be if you were an odd number?
24 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2008
24 people want to read
About the author
Marcie Aboff
85 books6 followers“I’ve always loved a good story. There’s something magical that happens when you open a book and are suddenly whisked off to a different place or another time where just about anything can happen … Stories make imagination real”
I was born and raised in a small suburban town in New Jersey, the youngest of three children. It was always a thrill when we had “library day” in elementary school and I got to pick out another new book. Some of my favorite authors growing up were Judy Blume and O. Henry. I love the surprise, twist ending of O. Henry’s stories.
In high school, I was editor of the school newspaper, but my favorite class was creative writing. I loved making up characters and plots and writing them down into a story. One of my fondest memories was when my creative writing teacher, Ms. Earl, read one of my short stories aloud for the class and when she finished she told the class, “this is how a short story should be written.” Wow - I felt on top of the world! Ms. Earl was one of those very special teachers that fueled my love of writing.
At Arizona State University, I broadened my writing interests with classes in broadcasting and I interned at the local PBS station on campus. My first “real” job was an editorial assistant for a daily newspaper in Escondido, California. Part of my job was writing the obituaries (not much room for creativity there!) I eventually became a feature writer/reporter. After a few years, I moved back to the east coast and worked in New York as a copywriter for an advertising specialty firm.
After I had my first child, I took time off from work and concentrated on what I really wanted to write – children’s stories. But I was certainly not an overnight success – I wrote for several years before I got published. I look back at some of my stories I wrote when I first started out and I have to laugh – like the story about the “talking vegetables who sang in the supermarket.” But I kept writing and learning my craft.
My first published story was sold to a children’s pre-teen magazine and I was thrilled. I got a small (very small!) check in the mail and I ran around the house feeling like I finally made it! Then I sold more stories to other children’s magazines like Highlights For Children and Spider. My first picture book, Uncle Willy’s Tickles, came shortly afterward.
I now have several published picture books, beginning readers and chapter books for both the trade and educational market. My latest beginning reader, The Giant Jelly Bean Jar, is a fun story about a jelly bean riddle contest.
I love visiting schools and libraries and talking to the kids about writing. Their creativity knows no bounds. I’ll never forget the time I was talking to a particular class of 4th graders. There were three rough-and-tough boys sitting in the back of the classroom who were clearly not interested in hearing an author speak, but at the end of my presentation, they were excited and smiling and talking about all the stories they wanted to write. What a great feeling!
I live in New Jersey with my three children and am part of a “blended” family – my fiancé has two children. With our five active kids, there is no shortage of story material from which to draw upon.
I was born and raised in a small suburban town in New Jersey, the youngest of three children. It was always a thrill when we had “library day” in elementary school and I got to pick out another new book. Some of my favorite authors growing up were Judy Blume and O. Henry. I love the surprise, twist ending of O. Henry’s stories.
In high school, I was editor of the school newspaper, but my favorite class was creative writing. I loved making up characters and plots and writing them down into a story. One of my fondest memories was when my creative writing teacher, Ms. Earl, read one of my short stories aloud for the class and when she finished she told the class, “this is how a short story should be written.” Wow - I felt on top of the world! Ms. Earl was one of those very special teachers that fueled my love of writing.
At Arizona State University, I broadened my writing interests with classes in broadcasting and I interned at the local PBS station on campus. My first “real” job was an editorial assistant for a daily newspaper in Escondido, California. Part of my job was writing the obituaries (not much room for creativity there!) I eventually became a feature writer/reporter. After a few years, I moved back to the east coast and worked in New York as a copywriter for an advertising specialty firm.
After I had my first child, I took time off from work and concentrated on what I really wanted to write – children’s stories. But I was certainly not an overnight success – I wrote for several years before I got published. I look back at some of my stories I wrote when I first started out and I have to laugh – like the story about the “talking vegetables who sang in the supermarket.” But I kept writing and learning my craft.
My first published story was sold to a children’s pre-teen magazine and I was thrilled. I got a small (very small!) check in the mail and I ran around the house feeling like I finally made it! Then I sold more stories to other children’s magazines like Highlights For Children and Spider. My first picture book, Uncle Willy’s Tickles, came shortly afterward.
I now have several published picture books, beginning readers and chapter books for both the trade and educational market. My latest beginning reader, The Giant Jelly Bean Jar, is a fun story about a jelly bean riddle contest.
I love visiting schools and libraries and talking to the kids about writing. Their creativity knows no bounds. I’ll never forget the time I was talking to a particular class of 4th graders. There were three rough-and-tough boys sitting in the back of the classroom who were clearly not interested in hearing an author speak, but at the end of my presentation, they were excited and smiling and talking about all the stories they wanted to write. What a great feeling!
I live in New Jersey with my three children and am part of a “blended” family – my fiancé has two children. With our five active kids, there is no shortage of story material from which to draw upon.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 20, 2023
This picture book by Marcie Aboff, illustrated by Sarah Dillard is a fun and creative book that teaches children about odd numbers. The animals are personified as humans in order to illustrate the different ways odd numbers are part of the real world. This introduces themes such as sharing, friendship, teammates, and safety. Altogether, this adds to the representation of numbers because the picture book provides several examples of how odd numbers work within realistic settings. Children can learn how there is nothing wrong with odd numbers especially when it comes to working in groups and sharing. What gets this message across is Aboff and Dillard’s use of imagination. There are several images that play with imagination as some of the animals are personified doing human things such as playing sports or in a clasroom setting. This makes learning fun for children by presenting them with different examples of odd numbers through the characters. In Michael Heyman and Kevin Shortsleeve’s “Nonsense,” both focus on Edward Lear, an English humorist and illustrator, to explain the significance of children’s literature. Lear’s biographer noted that his work included “‘safety and imagination,’” for children (pg.134). It is evident how this picture book also uses aspects of imagination through the personified animals in order to teach children about odd numbers. Children end up gaining understanding/knowledge of odd numbers and their purpose in the real world.
May 13, 2017
more tangible ideas than in the even number book, but less interesting. kids will enjoy the pictures, but maybe not the words.
December 3, 2012
This book is good for a math lesson on odd numbers. It has examples of multiple types of odd numbers, tricks to determine if a number is odd like being divisible by 2 with a remainder of 1 and between two even numbers on a number line. This book asks the readers’ questions about odd numbers. It has a glossary of terms in the back and also has helpful web sites to future explore. Can be used as a workstation or as an introduction to odd numbers.
April 15, 2013
This book is a great way to incorporate literature and odd numbers. The book has several fun illustrations that describe different rules and applications for odd numbers. In my second grade class, we read the story and then tried to prove the book wrong. The students got to experiment with odd numbers that are important to them (birthdays, addresses) and learn how to determine whether a number is odd or even.
January 27, 2012
"If you were an odd number, you could not be evenly divided by two. You could be one bright sun or seven colors in a rainbow. What else could you be if you were an odd number?"
This is a cute book about teaching students about odd numbers. It provides plenty of examples and they animals are cute.
This is a cute book about teaching students about odd numbers. It provides plenty of examples and they animals are cute.
May 11, 2013
314 - 2013
Dibeli untuk menambah koleksi TBA.
Dibeli untuk menambah koleksi TBA.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews