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Marco the Great and the History of Numberville a fantastical adventure series that will have readers learning math and enjoying it by SK Bennett Book Tour with Guest Post and giveaway




 Synopsis (from Amazon):

Marco did okay in math. He could follow the complex blueprints provided to him, navigate the steps, and arrive at the answers that earned him a shiny grade near the front of the alphabet. That is, until middle school. As new and confusing letters started creeping into every question, Marco developed a problem. When a new figure 'pops' into his life, he is introduced to a fantastical world where numbers rule, where they live together in villages, engage in duels, build stadiums and cheer for their favorite team as players are flung through the air. Marco's imagination runs wild as he develops new powers and hungers for more.

 

But everything is not as it seems. Join Marco, his annoying little sister Maggie, and his best friends Oliver and Liam (a math whiz and a conspiracy nut), as they discover this magical world is more real than they ever could have dreamt. And find out... Will Marco master the Numberfolk before the Numberfolk, very literally, master him?

 

More info:

Marco the Great and the History of Numberville is the first installment in a fantastical adventure series that will have readers learning math and enjoying every minute of it. In addition, the text includes over 300 practice problems and solutions as well as access to an entire digital world allowing students to dive directly into Marco's world with 40+ games to level-up their learning.

 

Marco the Great and the History of Numberville is a MathBait publication. The first installment in the series covers standards from 6th & 7th grade Prealgebra. The exact topics can be found at www.mathbait.com/marco-the-great.

 

Marco the Great has a 4th-6th grade reading level and was written for a middle school audience. However, it is a great option for younger students as well, either independently or read aloud. Throughout his journey, Marco encounters bullying which may be uncomfortable for younger readers. Parents may skip the related passages (pages 22, 60, and 112), if desired, for the given audience

 Excerpt from Marco the Great and the History of Numberville

The following is copyrighted material. 

 

 

Chapter Five: Letters

Despite the enjoyment his tutoring sessions brought, he had not yet fallen in love with the educational jail known as Mrs. Sanders’ class. The beast of the day was word problems. In an  unusual change of events, as his classmates struggled to translate sentences to numbers and  letters, then to numbers, and finally back to words again – for the first time, Marco found  himself at the head of the class. 

“A new robot toy was released, and you are excited to buy it.” Mrs. Sanders always tried to  make word problems have some interest to her students. While it was a nice thought, they all  boiled down to an equation of some sort with all the context removed anyway. “It is listed for  $50, but there will be a sale offering 20% off. How much will you save if you buy the game on  sale?”

Oliver’s hand shot up. Marco’s best friend, like his sister, possessed a genetic supernatural  power that made them number savants. While everyone else struggled to move an inch, they  could come in and easily jump a mile. The fact that Oliver was also the class clown and always  in trouble helped balance the nugget of jealousy that ached in the pit of Marco’s stomach. 

“Yes, Oliver?” Mrs. Sanders pointed to her student. “You will save 20%,” Oliver answered  with a smirk. Quiet giggles erupted from all corners of the classroom. 

After a sharp look, Mrs. Sanders painted her smile back on and responded, “You are correct.  But how much money would that be?” In an instant, the class became the robots from the  problem and following their programming, they all put their heads down and began scribbling  on the paper in front of them. Unlike his cyborg peers, Marco put his head down, but wrote  nothing on his paper. He had a different idea. Remembering what he had talked about with Mr.  Pikake – that numbers are ours to control – he let his imagination take over. 

Knowing that ‘percent’ meant ‘out of 100’, Marco saw the number 100. A vacuum cleaner  was sucking out 20s from the number. SLURP! Now, it was an 80 and a 20. SLURP! Now two 20s and a 60. Marco kept sucking at the number until it lay on the ground as five disoriented  20s. He turned his attention to the $50 from the question. He changed the settings to rip the 50  into five pieces as well in one mouthful. SLURP! Five 10s shot out the back.1

He slowly raised his hand. Oliver shot Marco a look that read ‘what are you doing?’ “Marco,” Mrs. Sanders called. 

“10?” Marco answered reluctantly. 

Mrs. Sanders looked at the clock which read 9:58, “No, it’s not quite 10 yet,” she responded. “No. The question. You’d save ten dollars.”

Her face frozen in a state of shock, Mrs. Sanders looked down at her paper and back up at  Marco. “Oh, um, yes. That is correct, Marco. Nice job.” 

Riding his math high for the rest of the day, Marco was silently thrilled when Oliver took it  upon himself to recount the event for Liam at lunch. 

“You should have seen it, man!” Oliver exclaimed. “The teacher couldn’t even solve it as fast  as Marco.” He turned to add, “Your tutoring must be going well.” 

Marco pushed and pushed but couldn’t hide his smile. His green eyes were bright with  excitement as he began to tell his friends about Mr. Pikake. “He’s a little crazy, I’m not going  to lie. It makes things fun. It’s like a video game, but rather than zombies, we are hunting  numbers.” Pretending to be a character in the boy’s favorite game, Marco mimed out a zombie  hunt. 

“Are they evil numbers trying to eat your brain?” Liam laughed. Although Marco hadn’t  thought about it before, the way Mr. Pikake talked about numbers gave him the sense there  was something dangerous about them. Realizing how bizarre that was, he shook the thought  from his head. 

1 What did Marco do here? The question Mrs. Sanders really asked was ‘What is 20% of $50?’ Since five 20’s make 100, he needed to know 5 of what would make 50. He split 50 into five pieces to discover each piece is a ten, meaning 20% of $50 is $10. You can do this with any question where the percentage is a factor of 100. My dog ate 12 pounds of food last month and he ate 25% more this month, how much did he eat? Since it takes four 25’s to make 100, how many fours make 12? Well, three of course. So, 25% of 12 is 3. Fido ate his normal 12 pounds plus the 3 more meaning he ate a total of 15 pounds of food this month – what a pig!

Guest Blog Post

By SK Bennett author of Marco the Great and the History of Numberville

How to teach anything to anyone

How do humans learn? In very basic terms, learning is like piecing together a puzzle.  Our brains have formed a picture based on our previous experiences and knowledge and when something new joins the party, it must figure out where in this existing jigsaw  the new information fits in. 

In short, to learn something you really need to already know something else. When my  grandmother passed away, I took up crochet in her honor. I pulled out a pattern to  begin and it looked something like this:

Hdc in next 3 sts

Huh? Turns out, I needed to learn a lot about crochet before I could even begin to crochet. Once I figured out how to translate the information stored in strange  shorthand and characters, I needed to then learn how to execute these codes before I  could even start accomplishing my goal of crocheting something. 

This barrier of prerequisite knowledge turns teaching complex tasks or ideas into a  huge mountain learners must scale. It’s also the reason why so many struggle in math  and so many educators are plagued with insurmountable challenges every school year.  Luckily, there is a way to make learning much easier. A story. 

Have you ever wondered why certain fairy tales stand the test of time? In short, it is  because they have found a way to simplify complex ideas into a digestible meal that is  not only easily scarfed down by anyone, but also a craveable feast. In other words, a  good story makes learning both easy and fun. 

As a mother, I understand the importance of teaching my children right from wrong. I  also understand this is not an easy task. I have gone down many ‘why’ holes in my  life. 

“You shouldn’t lie.”

“Why?”

“It’s wrong.”

“Why?”

“You are misleading someone and telling them something that isn’t true.” “Why?”

“What do you mean why? I don’t know why you’d do it, you shouldn’t!” For a child, understanding the intricate nature of lying, consequences, credibility, and  mortality seems impossible. There is too much to understand before you can even  begin to understand. Enter The Boy Who Cried Wolf

In this tale, a young boy experiments with the ‘ding-dong-ditching’ of his day:  screaming for help and laughing as the villagers come running only to find there is no  real emergency. The lesson emerges when the boy encounters an actual threat but has  used up all his good-will and trust, causing no one to heed to his calls. 

It’s beautiful. Somehow in only a few pages, this story manages to help very young  children understand the complicated topics some philosophers spend their entire  career on. It unpacks a multifaceted issue into a bite-size takeaway that even a five year-old can grasp. When I lie it causes people to stop believing me, which can be very  bad if I ever really need help. 

Even better, it’s memorable. That is the power of a story. In Marco the Great and the  History of Numberville I present middle school math concepts that are tricky for most  students. Through imagery, analogies, and relatable situations, these same challenging  ideas now feel obtainable and even intuitive, because a story is a powerful thing. 

So next time you are looking to teach someone something new, tell them a story. Not  only can it make understanding complex tasks accessible, it is also much more likely to  stick in their brain and stay there. 

Interview Q & A

SK Bennett author of Marco the Great and the History of Numberville

On writing:

 

How did you come up with the idea for Marco the Great?

I have always been an avid reader and a lover of stories. When my daughters were young, we  would read The Magic Treehouse series and I was so impressed with how well my kids could  pick up on facts from fiction much better than they could with standard textbooks. The idea to  create a similar mathematical fantasy world rattled around in my brain for years. It wasn’t until  my daughter hit 6th grade and was really struggling that gave me the push I needed to help  her. I was substituting a class and the way I happened to explain solving equations had a fun  and creepy vibe to it. At that moment I finally knew what the story would be. I started writing  and honestly haven’t stopped since! As a bonus, my daughter no longer ‘hates’ math, she has  this wonderful excitement when she talks about it, she is so proud and confident, and she went  from being behind to being a leader in her honors course. This alone was well worth it, and I so  hope that Marco the Great can have a similar impact on students across the world. 

How did you do research for Marco the Great?

The math was the easy part. I feel like I have been researching not only the content but the  best way to present it to students for my entire personal life and professional career. Every one  of the 100+ math textbooks I own, every experience as an educator, and every ‘aha’ moment  contributed to the scope, sequence, and presentation of the topics. 

I, in some way, researched everything else that went into Marco the Great. Sometimes this was  a deep dive into Google or the books I have at home, but often it was just throwing myself into  the experience. In one scene, Marco and Mr. Pikake do math in the snow. My kids and I  physically did this. I wanted everything to be just right and believable. For instance, I needed  to know how it sounds when you are shivering and trying to speak the character’s words. So we  played it out! We even wrote out all the equations with a stick and took pictures of them to aid  me as I wrote the scene. 

Which character was the hardest to write? The easiest?

Every character comes with their own challenges. It’s easy when writing to get into a flow of  how you, the author, might say something. I caught this early and took the time to write a

background document for everyone. This was so helpful. Once I knew their story (even though  none of it is actually in the book) I knew how they would respond to situations, what they would  say, how they viewed the world. 

Mr. Pikake was a fun challenge because he has a sharpness of speech that includes a lot of  alliteration and no nonsense. That’s hard when he is the ‘teacher’ and introducing concepts.  How do you express the mathematical ideas in a way that readers can understand but at the  same time doesn’t belabor the point and remains authentic to the character? Maggie might  have been the easiest only because I already know her: she has a lot of myself and my  daughters in her. 

Marco the Great has unique page numbers, how did you come up with this idea?

One goal of the book was to help students see that numbers are everywhere. There are  numbers we see and don’t ever really think about, and there are others we don’t see that are  governing the natural world like friction or gravity. The page numbers were a great place to  highlight this. By making them different mathematical equations and expressions, my goal was  to show that no matter how difficult the math might look, it’s just a number.

Every book has page numbers that serve as a way to reference and communicate information. They are something we often ignore. In Marco the Great you can’t miss the strange mix of  letters and numbers taking over the bottom of each page and they differ depending on the  chapter and the concept we are talking about. This provided both a fun and novel way for  students to check their understanding and an opportunity to normalize complicated notation  and make it more approachable. It had the added benefit of highlighting the unseen numbers  we take for granted. 

Where do you get inspiration for your stories?

The students! There is nothing better than when my crazy stories, antics, and analogies not  only make students laugh, smile, and become more engaged, but turn a challenging or tricky  concept into something they more easily understand. It is simply magical. 

What makes your book different from what’s out there?

One of the reasons I finally took the terrifying leap to publish was because there wasn’t  anything on the market. I am certainly a bibliophile and I searched and searched and came up  empty. There are books that are math adjacent, but I found these never dug deep enough into  the actual concepts. Books that did dig deep were textbooks or technical writing that were  hard to read and felt like I had to first translate them into English and then try to understand  what they were attempting to explain. Marco the Great presents rigorous mathematics in a way  that is fun to read and much easier to comprehend. It uses the power of storytelling to provide  a fresh perspective that I believe is so needed in today’s classrooms.

What advice would you give budding writers?

Write. Just write. I struggle still with wanting it to be perfect and staring at the screen waiting  for the ideal words to flow out. It doesn’t happen. Writing is a process. I force myself to start  typing and keep typing. Then, as the story begins to unfold, I go back and chisel it into the  picture I want the readers to see. I’ve heard people say first drafts are always horrible. I don’t see it that way. The first draft is preparing your canvas, it is a necessary and an important step  and it is okay if you hate parts of it. Just like in math, mistakes tell us so much more than getting  it ’right’ the first time. Once you know what doesn’t work, it is so much easier to understand  what will. 

If you could put yourself as a character in your book, who would you be?

Every character has a bit of me. Even when the inspiration is from someone else like my  parents or grandparents, it is something vital, something that stuck and became a part of who I  am. Anyone who knows me would probably say I’d be Maggie, but I’d love to live out Marco’s  adventure. It is so much fun and he has such a unique perspective. 

Do you have another profession besides writing?

My technical profession is educator and instructional designer. I have spent years designing  and developing courses and curricular material which made the transition to writing a bit  easier. A huge part of my educational philosophy is that learning should be fun. Most of my  days are spent coding math games. I think that learning through play is the absolute best way  to master new concepts. 

The norm is for instructional designers to stay out of the classroom. I always felt this was a huge  mistake. How can I design a strong and engaging curriculum if I am so removed from the  students using it? So, throughout the years I have always kept one foot in the classroom. Not  only does this bring me so much joy, energy, and purpose, it helps me to continue to  understand the demographics I am designing for and what is important to them. 

How long have you been writing?

I’d argue that writing and communicating is the essence of the human experience, meaning  I’ve been writing for over thirty years! I’ve always loved writing. When I was younger, I was  published in a book of poetry and have continued writing creatively in my spare time but  haven’t shared anything outside of my family or college professors. My career took me to more  technical writing for academic journals, but Marco the Great is my first attempt at mixing  creative writing with technical ideas. I have to say it is so much more fun!

Do you ever get writer’s block? What helps you overcome it?

For me, I know what I need to write, I am trying to communicate some mathematical idea. So writer’s block is generally not knowing how to put the ideas on paper; how to get it out of my  head and into something that is easily understandable and relatable. If I am in need of  inspiration I often read (sometimes my own story) or watch television or a movie. I love to see  storytelling in action and in different forms. It is a great way for me to allow my subconscious to  sort through things. I also just write. Even if it is horrible and no one will ever read it because it  is going straight in the trash, it tells me what doesn’t work. Once I know that, it is much easier  to find what will. 

What is your next project?

I am very excited for the next book in the Marco the Great series: Marco the Great and the  Mystery of Phaseville. It focuses on Algebra concepts such as functions and graphing. I am in  love with the story and can’t wait to get everything just right. 

What is the last great book you’ve read?

Every book is a great book to me. Every book has something that is special. I am always in the  process of reading four or five new books while also circling back to some of my favorites. I am  currently reading The Magicians, which I am enjoying but have found that ever since writing a  book I have become much more nitpicky. It’s almost like I read with an editing eye rather than 

for enjoyment. I am a big fan of the Dan Brown books because you can learn so much in his  stories. It’s not only an adventure. You learn about geography, architecture, there is so  much knowledge built into every page. I recently revisited The Princess Bride for the fifth or  sixth time, this time reading it out loud to my young sons. I also re-started one of my favorite  books of all time, Ender’s Game, and started rereading Dune to prepare for the movies. 

What is a favorite compliment you have received on your writing?

Anytime I hear a student say they enjoyed it; it is worth it. I wrote Marco the Great for the  students, to help all students excel and hopefully enjoy math. Advanced learners can learn  more complex topics not covered in their grade in a relatable way and students who struggled  with an idea have a new perspective that clicks and makes sense. Anytime I can help a child  grow in math is a huge win.

If your book were made into a move, who would star in the leading role?

I have been asked this before and thought about it a lot. As far as Marco, I am not familiar  enough with the 10–13-year-old actor scene. However, I do have a very clear picture of Mr.  Pikake and think Peter Capaldi would play the character perfectly. While I don’t know who  would play Maggie, I do see a lot of similarities with the character Dani from the first Hocus

Pocus film. Someone who is smart, and spunky, and brave would be necessary to pull off  Maggie just right.

What are the biggest rewards and challenges with writing Marco the Great?

The biggest reward is helping students to not fear numbers; to see their importance, and to  feel more confident in learning and doing mathematics. There is so much talk about how math  is useless, we don’t use what we learn in our daily lives. But I see it differently, I see math  everywhere I look. Learning math is the process of making sense of the world around us,  optimization, logic, engineering, it’s everything. If I can help a student to see, understand, and  appreciate math, it is all worth it. 

What authors inspired you to write?

All of them. It isn’t easy. It’s hard to put your work out into the world and open it up to ridicule  and scorn and opinions. I respect every single author who had a dream, an idea, a new  perspective and was brave enough to share a little piece of their heart and a little piece of  themselves with the world. 

On Rituals:

Where do you write?

I love the sun. It is a ball of energy. It gives me energy. We had a sunroom built off the side of  our house which is my office. I am surrounded by nature; I can see the trees and hear the birds  and watch the squirrels and it inspires me. 

Do you write every day?

When I am working on a project, yes. Maybe I take off for a holiday, but every other day, including  weekends, I try to either get something new down or make something I previously wrote  better. 

In today’s tech savvy world, most writers use a computer or laptop. Have you ever  written parts of your book on paper?

Like most, I write on my computer. However, I need to read on paper. I need to see how the  words fill the page. Once I get a rough draft, I print it and mark it up before going back to  make the changes digitally.

 

As a mom, how do you balance your time?

My kids inspire me. I watch how my teenagers respond to situations, funny things they say, and  all of that goes into the story in some way. They help me a lot. I’ll read a passage and watch  their reaction. When they smile or can’t help but let out a chuckle it tells me ‘that’s a good  line’. 

My husband is also a huge help. We both work from home and homeschool. We split things  up. The kids rotate coming out into my office (my son is here with me now working on his own  math homework) and then back inside. Everything is a balancing act, and I am sure I fail at it.  But that’s okay. I try to do better every day and am so thankful for all the time I get with my  kids. 

Fun Stuff:

If you were stuck on a deserted island, which 3 books would you want with you?

Long ones haha. Maybe Dune. I love Ender’s Game. Certainly a deep story that you can tear  apart and learn or discover something new each time. Marco is like that. There is so much in  between every line and hidden in the story. There are symmetries between the characters and  even the word choice. When you get to the end, if you read it all over again you will find new  things. I love books like that! I guess the third book would have to be Marco the Great.  

Any hobbies?

I guess I’d say crochet. I think it is making a comeback, but I got into it for a very special  reason. My grandmother made beautiful blankets. She made one for each of my children, her  great grandbabies. She passed away when my third child was 6 months old. When we found  out we were expecting #4, I knew I had to carry the torch. I taught myself and got a little  carried away. Not only did I make my kids their baby blankets, I made hats, and little animals and baby carrying bags. I just fell in love with it. I could feel her with me in every stitch. 

What TV series are you currently binge watching?

I love television and movies. I never passively watch anything. I learn something from  everything I watch. Right now, we are switching back and forth between Stargate Atlantis  (which I happened to find and I think it is crazy I have never seen it) and Psych (a favorite we  have watched many times). Before that it was Fringe and Battlestar Galactica. In fact, readers  will find some Battlestar Galactica references in my new book which actually arose out of a  brainstorm with my daughter! 





Author Bio:

SK Bennett is an award-winning educator, instructional designer, mathematician, and homeschool mom of five. She spent years designing courses for top companies and institutions before deciding it was time to embrace her belief that learning should be fun and math should never be all about memorization and rote procedures. Inspired by her favorite stories, she set out to create Marco's world - where learning is an adventure and math is never ever boring.

 

Website: https://www.mathbait.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathbait

 

 

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