EAST ORANGE, NJ — Anthony Collins, a language arts teacher at the Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts, was looking for a way to make reading fun for his students while making math and numbers less intimidating. His solution: He wrote a book, “Begin Again 10,” that does just that.
The book teaches children the wonders of learning base 10 in a fun and interesting way.
“‘Begin Again 10’ tells the story of the first numbers that ever existed in the universe. In the darkness, they sing their names, and they have to sing in perfect timing or the number line will change, and they all understand that. But what happens is, the Number One is upset because he wants to be (first in the number line) but Zero, his sister, starts first in the count,” Collins told the Record-Transcript on Dec. 12. “Due to Zero starting first, Number One says to himself, ‘What is Zero? Zero is nothing,’ while Zero says to her brother, Number One, ‘But without me, the numbers wouldn’t have any value. You wouldn’t be able to know your value without the zero.’ So, because of that argument, Number One decides not to sing during his turn but decides to sing during his sister’s turn.”
Because One does this, he and Zero switch places, creating the titular character, Begin Again 10. Throughout the book, the numbers zero through one come to learn that Begin Again 10 is part of their family, even though they originally shunned him for being a two-digit number.
“Every time the numbers get bigger, the universe is created, and we see trees and different things and you see the beginning of things, because the numbers are growing, and when the numbers are growing, it’s a metaphor for life,” Collins said. “As numbers grow, it’s emblematic of life in itself. Begin Again 10 learns and the number line learns that they don’t disappear, they grow as Begin Again 10 grows.”
According to Collins, the story teaches children what the number line is, and that it begins with zero, not one. Another important lesson in Collins’ book is that Zero, who is female, should not be undervalued and pushed to the side for her brother. Like all girls and boys, Zero has value.
Though “Begin Again 10” is a children’s book, adults can take away a great deal as well. For instance, when Collins’ brother read the book, he said it reminded him of the millennium debate in 1999.
“In 1999, people actually said that the millennium didn’t start until 2001, let’s not count the zero because that’s not really the beginning,” Collins said. “That’s a theoretical argument that people actually have. Some people think the millennium started in the year 2000, while others think it started in the year 2001. Those are the kind of things that can come out of this story. Younger children might look at this story as Zero being a girl and being overlooked and not valued. It turns out that she is the ultimate value because, without her, the number line wouldn’t have any value at all.”
Collins conceived of the book when he considered how children eventually grow up, leave home and start their own families. He therefore viewed the number 10 as the next generation of a family and set out to humanize the number. According to Collins, regardless of whether a number is in the tens value, the hundreds value or higher, it is still part of the number family — a powerful message for him.
“Begin Again 10” is Collins’ second book; the first, “The Jealous Adjective,” features Adjective, a female character who wants to share the throne with King Noun. Just as “Begin Again 10” is about recognizing the inherent value in all numbers — and by extension all people — “The Jealous Adjective” highlights the value of teamwork and the need for many types of words.
Collins said he is glad to be writing again and offering his newest book for sale. It can be purchased online at https://tinyurl.com/2p8rhtzk. Collins can be reached by email at [email protected] and by phone at 908-523-8528.
“The individual sales are doing well, but I would like for districts, starting with my own in East Orange, to buy copies for every child and for teachers to be able to teach from this book throughout the state of New Jersey and eventually across the country,” Collins said.
East Orange teacher makes numbers less intimidating in new children’s book added by EmilyAnn Jackman on
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