Math and Magic in Camelot!

After a long hiatus from blogging, I'm back with a wonderful surprise!  I'm very excited to announce the release of the second book in the Math and Magic Adventures series - "Math and Magic in Camelot"...

When Lulu and Elizabeth find themselves in Camelot, they are expecting to meet King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Instead, the twins enter the world of the Lily Maidens, an organization of women who travel through legends and time in pursuit of knowledge.  

But dark forces are uniting against the Kingdom; Merlin, the Black Pig, and a vast army of men and mythological beasts are marching for Camelot's gate. Only the magic of science, mathematics, and poetry can preserve honor's code and defend the Kingdom against the impending onslaught of evil.

Book Club Week 11 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

Our eleven-week adventure through the book Math and Magic in Wonderland has come to an end.  If you were with us from the start, congratulations!  If you've just discovered the book club, it's not too late to join in the fun.  I'll be leaving the additional activities and videos for each chapter up on this blog so you can work through them at your own pace.

To celebrate our book club completion, I have some exciting announcements and a give-away you will not want to miss!

Book Club Week 10 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

This week, we're reading Chapter 10 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland.  Join us as we explore square numbers, primes, the Fibonacci sequence in nature, acrostic poetry, time dilation, and more!

Book Club Week 9 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

Can you believe we're already on Chapter 9 of the book club for the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland?  Join us this week as we catch thieves, double pennies, and eat mock turtle soup.. yum!

Book Club Week 8 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

In chapter 8 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland,  Lulu and Elizabeth finally meet Mrs. Magpie.  Join us this week as we explore Boolean logic with Mome Raths and Slithy Toves, weight coins on a balance scale, and much more...

Book Club Week 7 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

In chapter 7 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland, Lulu and Elizabeth collect and deliver a tribute of Tum Tums to the Bandersnatches.  To accomplish this, they must calculate the height of a tree and build a word ladder with the correct number of rungs.  They deliver the Tum Tums to seven bridges which, based on graph theory, look like the seven bridges of Königsberg.  Let's play along...

Book Club Week 6 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

Chapter 6 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland centers around the classic "River Crossing" logic problem.  If you take the time to follow rabbit trails, however, there are so many more learning opportunities to be found...

Book Club Week 5 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

Chapter 5 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland, is full of visual puzzles and "math art".  Crafts are always a big hit around here, and those involving fractals and tessellations were no exception.  Here's what we did...

Book Club Week 4 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

In chapter 4 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland, we draw circles, find their centers, understand what Pi really represents, and learn about the "rabbit trails" that famous scientist followed.  Kids always do great with geometry because it is so easy to visualize.  I bought my twins new compasses in the "back to school" section of a local store (only about a dollar!) and they spent a lot of time making circle art and investigating the properties of circles...

Book Club Week 3 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

The third chapter of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland, was about cracking "secret codes".  This inspired me to put together an entire spy-themed week for my children.  I sent the kids on missions around the house where they had to find and decrypt each secret message to reveal the next clue. We enjoyed reading mysteries and watching the Spy Kids movie, but didn't forget that great spies are also good at math!  Join us this week as we play with cryptography, learn about permutations of letters, discover a new ending to "The Walrus and the Carpenter", play "Battleship" to practice finding Cartesian coordinates, perform a mathematical proof, and more...

Book Club Week 2 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

In Chapter 2 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland, Lulu and Elizabeth solve two puzzles based on "ancient games of skill":  Tangrams and Magic Squares.  A squirrel (who loves to speak in puns) guides them in the right direction.  Were you able to solve the riddles along with the story, or did you go off on a tangent?  Join us for Week 2 of the book club...

Book Club Week 1 and Giveaway {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

Welcome to the Math and Magic in Wonderland Book Club!

Over the next eleven weeks, I'll be hosting a virtual book club based on my math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland.

A copy of the book is all you need to get started on a grand adventure into the world of recreational mathematics (math as entertainment)!

Each week, we'll be playing with the math, language, and logic topics found in a single chapter. I'll be posting ideas for extension activities, videos demonstrating the concepts for the week, and additional resources. I'm really excited for the opportunity to share all the extra ideas that have been floating around my brain which I didn't have room to include in the book (as in Marco Polo's famous words: “I did not tell half of what I saw.”)

Reviews for Math and Magic in Wonderland

Some wonderful reviews have started coming in for "Math and Magic in Wonderland".  Please check out the reviews and follow these fantastic blogs:

"Puns, poetry, and plenty of puzzles. Tangrams, tessellations, truth-tellers and liars. History tidbits and many classics of recreational mathematics. 

No matter how challenging the topic, the book never talks down to the reader."

Review from Denise Gaskins, author of "Let's Play Math":
https://denisegaskins.com/2016/07/11/review-math-magic-wonderland/