Murphy Strikes My Paperbacks :(

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
The colors are supposed to go all the way off the edge.
The colors are supposed to go all the way off the edge. They worked just fine in the pre-publication proof…

Murphy’s Law struck today, and the paperback books that looked so good in the proof copies turned out to have a cover glitch, at least in the ones I ordered from Amazon. I’m working with CreateSpace to make sure it gets straightened out—but that means the books may show up as “unavailable” for awhile.

As with any print-on-demand glitch, if you got a badly printed book you can ask Customer Support to replace it.

It could be worse. The interior of the book is fine, at least in my copy. And of course, the ebook versions are totally unaffected.

If you are trying to use the discount code for newsletter subscribers, remember that it’s good through the end of the month. I may even extend the expiration date, if this cover problem persists, but I sure hope to have it fixed in a couple of days.

Playful Math Snacks: Proofs Without Words

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

sloyd squareThe July “Let’s Play Math” newsletter went out earlier this week to everyone who signed up for Tabletop Academy Press math updates.

Inspired by my recent Infinite Cake post, this month’s issue focuses on math proofs without words. What fun!

Sign Up Today

If you missed this month’s edition, no worries — there will be more playful math snacks coming soon. Click the link below to sign up today!

And remember: Newsletter subscribers are always the first to hear about new books, revisions, and sales or other promotions.

A Review for my Daughter’s Novel

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

“… a captivating fantasy story with a well-thought-out plot … people who like medieval-style fantasies with wraiths, spirits, and even an attacking swamp tree will enjoy the story. I certainly did, and the excitement, adventure, and suspense will easily keep the reader’s attention …”

— Wayne S. Walker
Home School Book Review

Thank you, Mr. Walker!

As a fantasy fan myself, I agree that Teresa did a great job on this book. She improved in every way from Book #1 — more world building, more complex plotting, and a deeper emotional identification with the characters. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

Check it out for yourself:

Hunted600

Find out how the adventure began:

BanishedKindleCover

New Internet Math Reference Pages

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

The Internet boasts a wide-ranging assortment of math websites, and for years I maintained (or mostly neglected) a huge page of reference links. This spring I’ve been working on the paperback edition of my book‌—‌with its appendix of favorite books and internet sites‌—‌and I decided to revise my blog links to match.

Blogging while we watch the tide come in. :)
Blogging while we watch the tide come in.

So this week, I’m in Jeju, South Korea, visiting my daughter who teaches English there. In between seeing touristy sites and gorging ourselves on amazingly delicious food, she took me to a beautiful coffee shop that overlooks the beach in Aewol.

Great place to work on my blog!

The long monster list morphed into eight topical pages. I hope you find something useful.

Playing tourist with two of my daughters at Halla Arboretum.
Playing tourist with two of my daughters at Halla Arboretum.

I will try to keep these pages up to date, but the Internet is volatile. If you find a broken link, you can search for the website by name or enter the defunct URL into the Internet Wayback Machine at Archive.org.

Changing of the guard at Old City Hall, Jeju-si.
Changing of the guard at Old City Hall, Jeju-si.

And if you know of a fantastic website I’ve missed, please send me an email (LetsPlayMath@gmail.com, or use the comment form on my “About” page). I appreciate your help.

Feature photo above by Fractal Ken via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Korea photos ©2015 Denise Gaskins, all rights reserved. For more math resource suggestions, check out my Math with Living Books pages. They’re not finished yet, but I’ll be working on them next.

New Fantasy Novel by Homeschooled Teen Author

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Hunted600After months of editing, formatting, proofreading, sweat, and tears:

Teresa Gaskins’s new ebook Hunted: The Riddled Stone ~ Book Two is available now at Amazon worldwide.

You can download the first five chapters here:

To celebrate the release of Hunted, the ebook version of Banished‌—‌the first book in the Riddled Stone series‌—‌will be on sale for 99 cents for the next few weeks.

Playful Math Snacks for May 2015

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

The May “Let’s Play Math” newsletter went out Monday morning to everyone who signed up for Tabletop Academy Press math updates.

This month’s issue focuses on math games, from Rosie’s Princess in the Dungeon to Jim Pai’s Trig & Logarithm War. What fun!

Sign Up Today

If you missed this month’s edition, no worries — there will be more playful math snacks coming soon. Click the link below to sign up today!

And remember: Newsletter subscribers are always the first to hear about new books, revisions, and sales or other promotions.

They’re Here! Math You Can Play Weekend Sale

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Featured photo above by Richard Riley via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

Finally, the first two books of my math games series are finished and loaded up on Amazon.com (and the other Amazons worldwide). To celebrate, I’m offering an introductory sale price this weekend: US$2.99 per book, now through Monday.[Sorry, expired.]

Math Your Kids WANT To Do

Are you tired of flashcards and repetitive worksheets? Now your children can practice their math skills by playing games.

Math games pump up mental muscle, reduce the fear of failure, and develop a positive attitude toward mathematics. Through playful interaction, games strengthen a child’s intuitive understanding of numbers and build problem-solving strategies. Mastering a math game can be hard work, but kids do it willingly because it is fun.

Continue reading They’re Here! Math You Can Play Weekend Sale

Playful Math Snacks for April 2015

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

AprilMathCalendarFeature photo above by Nicolas Raymond (CC BY 3.0).

The April “Let’s Play Math” newsletter went out Monday morning to everyone who signed up for Tabletop Academy Press math updates.

This month’s issue focused on Math Treks — math scavenger hunts in your neighborhood or at a mall or local park. What fun!

Sign Up Today

If you missed this month’s edition, no worries — there will be more playful math snacks coming soon. Click the link below to sign up today!

And remember: Newsletter subscribers are always the first to hear about new books, revisions, and sales or other promotions.

Playful Math Snacks: Why Pi?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Photo by KaCey97078 (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr.
Photo by KaCey97078 (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr .

Teachers and other math nerds are preparing to celebrate an epic Pi Day on 3/14/15. Unfortunately, the activities I see on teacher blogs and Pinterest don’t include much actual math. They stress the pi/pie wordplay or memorizing the digits.

With a bit of digging, however, I found a couple of projects that let you sink your metaphorical teeth into real mathematical meat. So I put those in the March “Let’s Play Math” newsletter, which went out this morning to everyone who signed up for Tabletop Academy Press math updates.

If you’re not on the mailing list, you can still join in the fun:

A Preview

Math Snack: Why Pi?

In math, symmetry is beautiful, and the most completely symmetric object in the (Euclidean) mathematical plane is the circle. No matter how you turn it, expand it, or shrink it, the circle remains essentially the same. Every circle you can imagine is the exact image of every other circle there is.

This is not true of other shapes. A rectangle may be short or tall. An ellipse may be fat or slim. A triangle may be squat, or stand up right, or lean off at a drunken angle. But circles are all the same, except for magnification. A circle three inches across is a perfect, point-for-point copy of a circle three miles across, or three millimeters…

Fun with the Impossible Penrose Triangle

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

I found this delightful animation today:

Ball-travels-around-impossible-triangle

The ball is traveling around a shape that can’t exist in our real world: the Penrose triangle. This illusion is the basis for some cool art, like Escher’s Waterfall. And I’m using it in my Math You Can Play books as a design on the back of my playing cards:

A-2-3deck

Want to Play Around with the Penrose Triangle?

Here’s a few links so you can try it for yourself:

Penrose Lego by Erik Johansson (CC BY 2.0)
Penrose Lego by Erik Johansson (CC BY 2.0)

Book Update

Addition-Games

I’ve sent the first two Math You Can Play books to a copy editor (she edits the text part), so my focus this month is on finishing the illustrations and downloadable game boards. And designing the book covers — I think I’ll call this latest iteration done.

If everything stays on schedule, both Counting & Number Bonds and Addition & Subtraction should be available by mid- to late-spring. Fingers crossed…