What is the Shape of My Ears? follows a miniature horse and a miniature donkey as they discuss how the shape of their ears and find similar shapes around their farm home. What was the inspiration for your story?

What a great question! 

In other words, why Pearl? Why Duke? Truth be told, I have a host of critters to choose from!

I knew prior to writing the storyline, it would be a challenge to explain the meaning of triangle, starting with the term angle. 

With this in mind, I needed a character who is clever, someone who could “think outside the box” to break down the meaning of triangle then apply it in ways that make sense to early math learners. 

Pearl—hands down—landed the part! 

Duke, her faithful sidekick, may not be the perfect student, but he’s willing to follow Pearl’s lead. 

Minus grazing! 

Your stories focus on math concepts, a subject that not all children are excited about. What is about math that excites you and makes you want to write books for children on this subject?

Safe to say, I understand why many people across age groups find math to be dry, boring, and often question its relevance. However, I truly enjoyed math stemming back to my elementary years, and I enjoyed teaching it. I tutored starting in high school well into my first year of college. However, across domains, geometry was the one area that I did not enjoy. Oddly enough, this became a focus in my research program as a graduate student—not geometry per se but (in part) the challenges that US students often face in learning geometric concepts from an early age. As a new venture in my academic career, I decided to shift gears so to speak and apply what I learned in my research (and the work of others). As is the case with many children’s books on mathematical learning, the goal is to engage children: give them reason to believe that math can be fun, and how it is so much a part of our everyday lives. In the words of Silkie and Pearl, you just need “to look closely.”

The art in this book is fantastic and draws the readers in, making the math concepts less intimidating. What was the art collaboration process like with the illustrator Gabriela Vega?

Unlike writing an article for an academic journal, there are many challenges to writing a children’s book, particularly for a debut, self-publishing author. The learning curve is nothing short of steep! That said, I credit Gabriela for our accomplishments with the series—What Is the Shape of My Egg? 15 honorable mentions and awards to date! 

She is incredibly talented in addition to her outstanding work ethic and willingness to take on challenges.

Do you have more adventures and learning experiences planned for the Farm Friends? If so, what can young readers look forward to in the future?

We do! What Is the Shape of My House? is set to be published for 2025. This final book of the Shape Friends series focuses on squares and rectangles. Fern, a Nigerian dwarf goat, is the main character. I will be posting updates on my website by year end. A supplemental activity book that will feature all of the characters in the series is a possibility as well.

Author Links: Website