What if all the Numbers Vanished????

Have you ever stopped to think about what our world would be like without numbers? No value on money. No time. No dates. No ages. No recipe amounts. No mph or mpg. No weights. No # of Google Friends or Feedburner Readers or Facebook Friends. (Now that would indeed be tragic!!!)

Loreen Leedy has considered just this scenario (well, okay, maybe not the last couple) in her book, Missing Math: A Number Mystery. When all the numbers go missing, the town's detective must solve the case. Spoiler alert! (In the amusing ending, the number thief is punished; he has to return all numbers back to all phone books. Yikes!)

Use this book to invite children to reflect on the importance of numbers in daily life. Then, children can write their own creative pieces on "a day in my life" (or an hour, a lunchtime, a music lesson, etc.) without numbers.  This would be particularly useful as a back-to-school activity as kids start thinking about the importance of learning concepts related to numbers.

If you can get your hands on them, two other books (now out-of-print) explore the same concept: Neil's Numberless World and A Day With No Math. If you own them, you're lucky. If you don't, keep your eyes open! And order Missing Math before it's OOP! :)

Disclaimer: If you're interested in purchasing any of these books through Amazon, all commissions go toward foster care through Grace and Hope at no additional cost to you. I keep no money. I received nothing for this book review. If you have one of these OOP books and are looking for a new owner, my birthday is coming up! LOL. :)