MR. WILLY-NILLY AND ZOEY’S DREAM
Author: Ji-yun Shin
Illustrator: Seung-yim Bak
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Number of pages: 36
Publisher: TanTan Publishing First published in: Unknown Translated into English in: 2015 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes Is this story part of a mathematics story series? Yes (TanTan Math Story) Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
Mr. Willy-Nilly, a wolf, dreams of becoming a writer. Meanwhile he wants to catch and eat the shepherd Zoey’s sheep. Can he succeed? Let’s learn how the unique Mr. Willy-Nilly and Zoey together make up the number 10. Elementary math concepts that relate to counting, decomposing, and synthesis are highlighted in a clever tale about an unlikely friendship. |
“"5 sheep and 5 sheep, 6 sheep and 4 sheep - they are both the same as 10 sheep all together! But what should we do? Today there are 7 sheep and 3 sheep." Zoey pointed to the 7 sheep eating flowers and 3 sheep eating grass. Mr. Willy-Nilly returned home empty-handed yet again”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Ji-yun Shin’s ‘Mr. Willy-Nilly and Zoey’s Dream’ is part of the world’s largest mathematical story picture book series, called TanTan Math Story (70+ titles). The English translation of this original South Korean version was done in 2015. The story follows Zoey, a shepherd girl, who outwits Mr. Willy-Nilly, a very polite wolf, who has asked Zoey if he could eat some of her ten sheep. Zoey agrees and promises to return with her sheep for the wolf to eat the following day. Zoey returns the next day with just five sheep, secretly leaving the other five sheep in a nearby field, to try to trick the wolf into thinking that the five sheep that she has cannot be hers as she has ten sheep, not five. The following day, Zoey divides her sheep into two groups of six and four sheep, hoping to trick the wolf again. Throughout the story, the wolf becomes more and more suspicious and has to rely on his knowledge of number bond to establish that however the sheep are split, they are still added up to 10 sheep, and hence are Zoey’s. The story offers a variation in mathematical situations for young readers to learn the concept of number bond. The page illustrations are visually appealing and effective in visually communicating the concept of number bond to children. Like most titles in this series, the book comes with a few mathematical word problems relating to the story to be solved at the end of the story. All in all, ‘Mr. Willy-Nilly and Zoey’s is a great story to introduce the concept of number bond (and hence addition) to children aged 5+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author)
Recommended age range:
5+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Addition; Number Bond
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.
Ji-yun Shin’s ‘Mr. Willy-Nilly and Zoey’s Dream’ is part of the world’s largest mathematical story picture book series, called TanTan Math Story (70+ titles). The English translation of this original South Korean version was done in 2015. The story follows Zoey, a shepherd girl, who outwits Mr. Willy-Nilly, a very polite wolf, who has asked Zoey if he could eat some of her ten sheep. Zoey agrees and promises to return with her sheep for the wolf to eat the following day. Zoey returns the next day with just five sheep, secretly leaving the other five sheep in a nearby field, to try to trick the wolf into thinking that the five sheep that she has cannot be hers as she has ten sheep, not five. The following day, Zoey divides her sheep into two groups of six and four sheep, hoping to trick the wolf again. Throughout the story, the wolf becomes more and more suspicious and has to rely on his knowledge of number bond to establish that however the sheep are split, they are still added up to 10 sheep, and hence are Zoey’s. The story offers a variation in mathematical situations for young readers to learn the concept of number bond. The page illustrations are visually appealing and effective in visually communicating the concept of number bond to children. Like most titles in this series, the book comes with a few mathematical word problems relating to the story to be solved at the end of the story. All in all, ‘Mr. Willy-Nilly and Zoey’s is a great story to introduce the concept of number bond (and hence addition) to children aged 5+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author)
Recommended age range:
5+ years old
Relevant mathematics topics:
Addition; Number Bond
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.
