Mathical Measurement: Mike Downs

Measurement is a big topic for children. It’s about making sense of the world around us. This month, Mathical Books coordinator Kirsten Bohl interviews four Mathical authors about measurement, asking them five questions to explore their writing process.

Read the interviews:
Lalena Fisher – Nicola Kent – Rilla Alexander – Mike Downs

1. Measurement + emotion is not an equation many adults consciously resonate with — but children often do. Can you say more about how emotions show up in your book?

Mike Downs: I absolutely love this connection between “measures” and “emotion.” In fact, you could say it’s the central theme of A Treasure of Measures.

In our society, as a rule, we learn to measure things in a very clinical way…and this is very important! STEM of every type requires accurate criteria, measures, and standards. But children often don’t view the world the same way as adults!

As a child, you’re probably not ticking off the mileage when riding in the back of a car. Instead, you might measure the ride by how many cows you’ve passed or how many mountains or bridges you’ve seen. Kids will tend to pick out the emotionally enjoyable moments or intrinsically curious events as the measurements of their trip.

In A Treasure of Measures I show that there are different ways of measuring all the events of our lives, and that we should be open to both the scientific measurements as well as the life affirming emotions we experience along the way.

2. How did you decide to write — and draw — about measurement?

I went to the play “Rent” with my daughter years ago. In the song “Seasons of Love,” the concept of life-based measuring was so powerful that I wanted to share this idea with young readers. Most importantly, I wanted to share it in such a way that it was easily accessible and enjoyable, but I also wanted to connect it to the classic STEM based measurements that are so important.

The result was a book that included the joyful poetry of our lives, integrated with classic STEM values of measurement.

Special thanks to Chronicle Books for believing in this vision and for Joy Hwang Ruiz who brought the manuscript to life with her wonderful art.

3. Please share one especially surprising fact you learned while making the book.

Oh my gosh! I learned so many amazing things once I dug into research on the history of measuring! It’s tough to narrow it down, but there is one especially enjoyable fact I learned while writing the backmatter in a way that would be interesting to kids.

Here it is. Did you know that a large cockroach can run fifty feet in 10 seconds? Really!

4. Mathical books often have a theme of self-empowerment among children. We want children to learn to love & enjoy math, being mathy and doing math & experiencing their world as knowable, changeable, and worthwhile to play in. Can you say more about how the child / children in your story are “in charge” of their own story?

In A Treasure of Measures, children discover how they are already experiencing the world in their own personal ways. They are also exposed to a variety of perspectives that others may have as they view the world. Finally, they are challenged to discover what other measures they can discover on their own.

5. Anything else you’d like to share?

I am so excited to be included in this wonderful blog! Thank you. And I’m thrilled to be a small part of supporting STEM knowing that A Treasure of Measures might spark the imaginations of young readers.