Telling stories made it easier for Dr. Denise Newman’s math students to learn some of the concepts she presented.
“They struggled to remember more than just the names of the shapes especially the abstract ones,” said Newman, who wrote a book called “Trap Of Zoid,” a science fiction tale about a square who turns into a trapezoid after he’s chosen to be King of Zoid and taken onto a spaceship.
Newman, who lives in North Augusta and is the assistant principal at W.E. Parker Elementary School in Edgefield, published her first book at the beginning of the year. A former classroom teacher, she had the idea for the book in the back of her mind for several years. Someone who had observed Newman’s class told Newman she should write her story down.
In February 2020, Newman started putting the story onto paper and enlisted the help of 13-year-old Abigail Turner, a Horse Creek Academy student, to create the illustrations for the book.
Newman had seen Abigail’s art on Abigail’s mother’s Facebook page.
Abigail said she was excited to have the chance to take part in the project.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Abigail of the process.
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When creating the characters, Abigail had a few things in mind.
“I wanted it to be cute and simple. Things just popped into my mind,” she said.
She drew the images on her tablet.
Also included in the book are explanations of the attributes of shapes and a vocabulary word list.
While the book is about math concepts, there are a few other messages contained within its pages. After Trap changes from a square to a trapezoid, he’s concerned about how he looks. At one time, his four sides were all the same; now they were different.
“It’s okay to be different,” said Newman. “The book has some emotional aspects to it.”
Newman said she hopes that the book, which is available on Amazon, will aid teachers. She said she’d love to get it in as many teacher’s hands as possible as it helps integrate several subjects into one.
Finding a book about math isn’t easy, she said.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
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