Karen Barbour

Beyond basic addition, my understanding of math has always been tragically dim and the California public school system was incapable of instilling any interest in mathematics. In high school I became aware of yet another deficiency in my understanding: poetry. Robert Burns’ A Red, Red Rose I understood, but I needed an explanation for Thomas Gray’s, “Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air”.

Even now the mention of math or poetry is enough to provoke a petit mal seizure of boredom, so the idea of a book for children combining the two subjects seems almost cruel. However, when I saw Marvelous Math, A Book of Poems at the thrift store, I was compelled to buy it. Why? For the very colorful and charmingly whimsical illustrations by Karen Barbour.