Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi!
Art Coulson, author
Art Coulson is Cherokee from Oklahoma and comes from a family of storytellers. Some of his earliest memories are of listening to stories and reading books on his grandmother's lap. Art now writes his own books for young readers, including Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army. He lives with his family in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Read more about Art.
Madelyn Goodnight, illustrator
Madelyn Goodnight is a member of the Chickasaw Nation whose work reflects her love of childhood. She holds a degree from Rhode Island School of design and lives in Oklahoma. She is the illustrator of The Pear Tree.
Read more about Madelyn.
- NSTA-CBC Best STEM Books
- American Indians in Children's Literature Best of 2021
Kirkus Reviews
Through investigation, Bo discovers the perfect container to display his marble collection at the Cherokee National Holiday festival. For months, Bo has worked hard on painting round stones to make homemade marbles. He is finally old enough to sell them at his family’s craft booth. His grandma, Elisi, says there is only so much space at the table so he will need to find something to hold the marbles. She sends him to “look around. Just don’t make a big ol’ mess!” Bo hunts through the boxes in his room, but nothing is big enough. When he finds a large tray, Elisi says, “Tla.…Our booth is small. Your container needs to fit on this mat.” Bo carries the mat around the house, experimenting with containers of different shapes and sizes. He dumps out the contents of a ribbon box, a tool crate, and a tall vase, but nothing works. He is about to give up and ask for help when he empties the contents of a basket. His marbles fit perfectly! Elisi’s house is a mess, but Bo has found just the right container to show and sell his homemade marbles. Incorporating snatches of Cherokee, Coulson’s (Cherokee) tale conveys the challenges of estimating volume even as it develops three-dimensional characters and their affectionate relationship. Goodnight’s (Chickasaw) illustrations are lively and full of details specific to Cherokee culture. This fun, math-inspired story will empower children to keep trying until they succeed.
Book Riot>
Everybody seeking math books for kids should invest in the Storytelling Math series. Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi! is one entry in the series, introducing spatial concepts like volume and area in the tale of a Cherokee boy named Bo determining how to show off his traditional marbles for the Cherokee National Holiday. The book incorporates Cherokee words while it also demonstrates the kind of mathematical thinking kids can do in their own lives. Other entries in the series investigate concepts like division, estimation, measurement, and more.
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-62354-203-0
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-62354-204-7
Spanish Bilingual Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-62354-219-1
Spanish Bilingual Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-62354-220-7
E-book
ISBN: 978-1-63289-955-2 EPUB
Ages: 3-6
Page count: 32
9 1/2 x 9 1/2