HELLO, Numbers

     As a child, I learned to love numbers via counting rhymes (of which many are found at this Lit2Go website);  -- often I reinforced my number-memory by reciting  rhyming verses such as "One, two, buckle my shoe" and "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" and enjoying the trick in "Going to St. Ives."  University of Arkansas mathematician Edmund Harriss (whom I met a bunch of years ago at a conference in Banff) and co-authors Houston Hughes (poet) and Brian Rea (visual artist) have a book -- HELLO NUMBERS! (published in 2020 by The Experiment).  This book, like those old rhymes, gives young readers the opportunity for fun with numbers as they learn.

Here's a sample:  

    Learning meets wonder
           when you invite numbers to come play in your imagination!

       First think of One peeking out from the night
       Like a point, or a dot, or a shimmering light.

       But when One finds a friend to run from or run to,
       Then we can’t call both “One”—that new One must be Two!
 
       And should you want something to go in between,
       You’ll need a new number, a number like Three.
 
       Four makes a square when it’s standing around,
       But what would you see if it flies off the ground?
 
       And then when another new One comes to mind,
       Yell out its name if you know it . . . it’s Five!
 
       Do you like the way that these numbers are sounding?
       Then join our adventure to count beyond counting!

Explore HELLO NUMBERS . . . and ENJOY!

Explore this collection at this link.