Math Maker News: Modultown! by Dec 1, zoo puzzle-hunt, and Future Book Club volunteering

Mathematics of the children, by the children, for the children.

Big thanks and a bonus tier at Modultown! crowdfunding

Thanks to six score backers, our next children’s puzzle-adventure story, Modultown! by Dr. Sasha Fradkin and Dr. Allison Bishop, reached its funding target on Kickstarter and made the “Projects We Love” list. Yay! It’s so heartening to know that people care about math stories. You can help us get this Creative Commons book into the hands of even more children and unlock bonus puzzles by contributing to the campaign by December 1. (If you are reading this after December 1, pre-order the book at NaturalMath.com/Modultown.)

Head to the campaign page to check out the funny video with student fanart, meet the quirky, many-handed Moduli, and grab an awesome zoo-themed scavenger hunt and other author tour materials for your family or math circle.

The authors say:

Math Storytelling? Why?

By personifying math through relatable characters in magical worlds, we show kids that math is alive and much more than a formula on a page. Mathematics is a language describing human phenomena and a canvas for creativity.

Just like the stories we love, many great inventions of mathematics start with a desire to express something in our world or to create fantastic worlds of our own. We believe that math and stories are complementary tools for building human understanding, transferring knowledge, and ingraining concepts in memory. We believe that every child has a math story to tell.

Quintessa the fifteen-handed Modultown resident says:

On the one hand, you may have children who will enjoy this book.

On the second hand, you support creative approaches to math education.

On the third hand, you just like puzzles.

On the fourth hand, you want to learn what modular arithmetic really is.

On the fifth hand, you read Funville and were sad when it ended.

On the sixth hand…

Read more at kickstarter.com/projects/naturalmath/modultown-a-math-inspired-childrens-book.

Future Book Club volunteer opportunities

If you are reading this, you probably value reading. And math. Reading math? Reading about math? All of the above! That’s why I want to tell you about our Future Book Club.

The Future Book Club is like a book club, but for upcoming books. Club members work with authors as math makers, helping them shape and edit future books. This is a unique volunteer opportunity for teens, children, parents, and anyone passionate about mathematical writing. Besides helping out a great cause and learning the ropes of writing and editing, this comes with our big thanks and volunteer hour certificates from the Natural Math Alliance, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

What’s in the works? Something for everyone! Here are three examples of what the Future Book Club is currently working on:

• My Hundred Friends, a cozy-core children’s comic book about friendship and factorization. “One is every character’s favorite, like the Dalai Lama of the numbers” – Kara Colley, author and character.
• Roots: It Starts with a Story, an upper elementary and middle school resource for those who might have struggled but will thrive with math as a language first and a pattern second.
• AL, Logical!, a graphic novel that’s like a high school math circle, but in a haunted, multidimensional mansion where a lonely, brave artist finds the restless ghost of a mathematician, and then…

We also started a small pilot project for mentoring child authors to connect with like-minded math makers and find their audiences.

Contact Dr. Maria @ Natural Math to learn more about joining the Future Book Club.

https://naturalmath.com/contact-us/

Math Maker Moments

Building and sharing Dragon Nests (paper models of hyperbolic saddle points)
E3 Black STEAM Career Fair, Hargraves Community Center, Durham, North Carolina
November 15, 2025