My Garden is a Square – A Let’s visit Numberland rhyming children’s picture book
All details about the book by Barbara Schindelhauer and Mark Hansen (including all available languages), plus fun facts about the people behind it!
Our book is a perfect start into the magical world of Let’s visit Numberland with your children! Simply enjoy exploring and talking about the pictures and rhymes. Everything is designed in a way that children experience relevant details of what makes a number: “Look, I see 2 yellow flowers and 2 pink flowers in Number Four’s garden – that makes 4 in total. I think she could have also planted 4 different colours…”
An eye opener and a communication starter, building on the maths understanding children are born with and translating relevant maths into the world of children.
>> Watch me reading the book on YouTube 🙂
Get a feeling for what makes our book special, what the reviewers say, who the people behind it are.
Available languages: English, Hindi, Indonesian, Chinese, Arabic, German, French, Spanish.
Available directly from TBR Books or from a local / online bookseller in your country.
What is My Garden is a Square about?
Our rhyming children’s picture book introduces the Numberland idea and characters, including mischievous Trickster and caring Numberilly. The story and pictures inspire to explore relevant knowledge about basic numbers and shapes. They open our eyes for the mathematics in the world around us.
The book makes an excellent starting point of any Numberland co-adventure, but it is also a stand-alone resource.
The story and pictures inspire to explore relevant knowledge about basic numbers and shapes. They open our eyes for the mathematics in the world around us.
This picture book is intended for parents and teachers of 3 to 5 year old children as yet another means to support our children on their journey of self-education, combined with the joy of reading a book together. The book makes an excellent starting point of any Numberland co-adventure, but it is also a stand-alone resource.
We also give helpful hints when reading the book, to get the most out of the book and spark our children.
Available languages and ISBN numbers
Barbara Schindelhauer and Mark Hansen
My Garden is a Square
TBR Books 2022
28 pages incl. tips for using the book
ISBN 978-1-63607-356-9
approx. 12.99 USD
ISBN numbers for the printed copy:
English — ISBN 978-1-63607-356-9
German — ISBN 978-1-63607-421-4
French — ISBN 978-1-63607-386-6
Arabic — ISBN 978-1-63607-426-9
Hindi — ISBN 978-1-63607-357-6
Indonesian — ISBN 978-1-63607-379-8
Chinese — ISBN 978-1-63607-380-4
Spanish — ISBN 978-1-63607-452-8
Get the ebook directly from the publisher TBR Books.
Where can I get the book or the ebook?
For the printed copy, check your country for best results:
— order through your local online/offline bookshop (tip: use the ISBN number for the preferred language)
— directly from TBR Books/CALEC New York (interesting for bulk sizes or book stores)
— TBR Books/CALEC France
— on Amazon
— directly from TBR Books/CALEC New York (also interesting for bulk sizes)
Get your ebook directly from the publisher TBR Books/CALEC New York
A look inside the book
all in one spot!
Let your children turn the story into happy role-play with this cut out resource!
>> My Cut and Play Numberland <<
Reviews
- Barbara Schindelhauer and Mark Hansen have written a wonderfully engaging and interactive book for children, the perfect introduction to the world of numbers. With fun and colourful details on each page, this book is sure to capture the imagination of children everywhere as they are introduced to the concept of numbers and counting. (Tanya Natalie)
- For years, we have been using Let’s visit Numberland in our daycare center and are always delighted to introduce new aspects. The book fits perfectly and there is much to discover. As we had to realise, we often forget the number zero – hopefully not anymore in the future. On every page, matching each number, there is a lot to explore. For example, Number Eight pours 8 drops of water, Number Five has 5 buttons and 5 teeth, and Number Nine, of course, has 9, and so on. What does Trickster mix up? Can we find all the mistakes? We have a lot of fun looking at it every time! S. Chucher (Germany)
- It’s wonderful to meet numbers one to ten, Trickster and Numberilly. I loved reading it aloud and giving voices to them. Thank you for this charismatic poem playfully written with imaginative visuals making all fall in love with maths. (Anusha Shrestha, Co-Founder @Education Influence, CSM @upschool)
- Enchanting, entertaining, and engaging! MY GARDEN IS A SQUARE is a “math-for-all” delightful tale of “Numberland’s” fundamental and essential entities. The numbers come alive via this visually-appealing story’s multiple representations. The book also poses good questions that organically provoke mathematical thought in children. A must-have early years book! (Jaspreet Sethi – Founder Math with a Smile, India)
- An easy way to introduce children to the world of numbers and patterns. Bright and easy to follow, I’d highly recommend this book to help young children to start noticing numbers around them and to engage in all the patterns that can be seen. (Debbie Kemish – Retired Director of International School in Australia and teacher of English language)
About our publisher, TBR Books by CALEC
TBR Books is the publishing arm of the Center for the Advancement of Languages, Education, and Communities (CALEC), a New York based nonprofit organisation with a focus on multilingualism, cross-cultural understanding, and the dissemination of ideas.
“Our mission is to empower multilingual families and linguistic communities through education, knowledge, and advocacy. Visit us at https://calec.org/tbr-books/“
Thanks to CALEC and their dedicated volunteers all over the world, our book is being translated into various other languages! Available so far: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Spanish (soon)!
My wonderful co-author Mark Hansen
Mark made it first to hold a printed copy of our book in his hands! Mark initiated the idea to write our book, following the example of his children’s picture book “Math for All” (TBR Books). Though working from different time zones (Australia and Germany), it took us only four months full of creativity, laughing and fighting over rhymes to get it done!
Fun fact: We had our first video call to exchange our thoughts on early maths only in May 2022, pitched in July – and in October the book was out!
Please also check Mark’s lovely picture book Math for All.
Milestones and time line
Oct 2022 Meeting our publisher, Dr. Fabrice Jaumont in person
Oct 2022: It was special to receive the first copies out of the hands of Dr Fabrice Jaumont, head of TBR Books, the publishing arm of his non-profit organisation CALEC at Frankfurt Bookfair in October 2022.
Their range of children’s books, bringing together cultures from all over the world and all translated into various languages, are amazing! Also Mark’s first book Maths for All is available in 8 (!) languages!
Dec 2023 A chat with team CALEC Paris
Dec 2023: Such a pleasure and fun to meet the TBR Books people who turn the Numberland idea into tangible books – even in various languages!
In this meeting, we also discussed further resources such as printed cut out Numberland resources… (now out!)
April 2024 Happy book signing at Festival du Livre Paris
April 2024: What an experience to attend the Festival du Livre as an author and to sign My Garden is a Square in various languages!
And such a lovely opportunity to bond and chat with the dedicated team of CALEC publishing.
July 2024 Perfect match: Cut out resource released
July 2024: Now it’s even easier to turn the picture book into tangible play! This booklet contains all our beautifully designed Numberland elements. Just cut out, laminate, optionally glue onto something, or use on a magnetic board. The book also contains 3 pages of suggestions and tips.
Alternative: A pdf version is included as pdf in the Numberland Masterclass. Details on the cut out resource