Working on My Let’s Play Math! Books

This blog originally grew out of my books, and now it’s coming full circle: New, expanded editions of my long-out-of-print books are ripening on the vine, growing out of the blog. To bring them to harvest, I’m going to need your help.

The Books

I’m working on the games books first because I think they will be the most helpful supplements to any math program.

• Let’s Play Math! Number Games for All Ages
  This book will include games like Tens Concentration and Hit Me, as well as tips for teaching negative numbers, the times table, and more. Never before published, because it was planned as the fifth book in my earlier how-to-teach-homeschool-math series, but my self-publishing experiment ended after book four.

• Gotcha! Strategy Games for Math and Logic
  This will include games like Math Club Nim and Avoid Three, as well as a lesson about logic and some Lewis Carroll puzzles. An earlier edition is currently available on Amazon for such an exorbitant price that I can’t recommend it to anyone.

• Others to be announced, if I ever get the first two done…

What Do You Want from a Math Book?

If you’re a homeschooler or classroom teacher who might be interested in my books, would you help me polish them up for publication? First, I need to know what things are important to you. You may click more than one answer:

I Need Volunteers

There’s a lot of work involved in getting a book ready to print. First, I need about a dozen “first readers” — people who are willing to read my book, try the games with their kids, and tell me which parts make sense and where I need clearer explanations, which games are fun and which are duds, etc.

This is harder than it sounds! If you are interested, please email me and let me know:

• That you want to volunteer as a first reader, and how much time you think you can commit to the job.
• How many children (and what ages) you teach.
• Whether you have any writing or editing experience (not required).

I can’t pay for this, but you will get the first peek at each chapter in draft form. And every reader who sticks with me to the end will get a free copy whenever the book is published.

Update: I have a dozen volunteers now, and I don’t think I have the time or brain power to process more input than that. Thank you all for your interest!

And Some Paid Help, Too

I need an illustrator (or more than one). Many of the games and teaching tips need diagrams, and some of the pages need cartoons or something just to break up the gray. I will also need a book cover. This would be a paying job.

Update: I am particularly interested in working with one or more homeschool art students. The small amount I can afford pay is not enough to keep a professional in business, but if you know any students who would enjoy a chance to get published and add to their portfolios (and get paid chump change in the process), please point them my way!

If you are interested, please email me the following:

• Samples of your drawing style and/or links to your work online or in other books.
• References.
• Your rates.

Finally, I will need a professional editor and a book designer. Does anyone have recommendations? Again, please email me!

One More Question

Kitten and Niner have also finished their books, so I’m bouncing back and forth between writing mine and editing theirs. Of course, I’m extremely biased, but I think their books compare well against other first-books-by-teenagers that I’ve read. Both girls dream of being published writers, and both have started working on a sequel. But I’ve been wary about encouraging them, afraid that only the grandparents might be interested.

So I’m curious: Would you be interested in reading a fantasy adventure book written by a homeschooled kid?