Dead Possums Are Fair Game

by Taryn Souders

Overview

The world would be a better place without math or messy roommates. At least, that’s what Ella Hunter believes. Life is about keeping order and avoiding long division, fractions, or really anything with an equal sign.

As the end of the school year approaches, the fifth-grade teachers at Victor Waldo Elementary conclude there’s not enough time to complete a new math unit before summer break. Great news for math-phobic Ella, right?

Wrong! The teachers decide instead to have their students host the first-ever Math Fair. And the fair project is worth two major math grades.

Add in one dead possum plus two horrible roommates who come to stay while their house is being renovated, and you have an equation for disaster. Ella is headed for summer school and math tutoring for sure. Can she stop her troubles from multiplying before it’s too late?

Sky Pony Press, with our Good Books, Racehorse and Arcade imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of books for young readers—picture books for small children, chapter books, books for middle grade readers, and novels for young adults. Our list includes bestsellers for children who love to play Minecraft; stories told with LEGO bricks; books that teach lessons about tolerance, patience, and the environment, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781634501620
Publisher:	Sky Pony
Publication date:	11/03/2015
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	770L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Taryn Souders has a background in math education and is passionate about keeping math fun for kids. She is the author of Whole-y Cow!: Fractions Are Fun.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Luck 1

Chapter 2 Rigor Mortis 8

Chapter 3 Fair 15

Chapter 4 Dead Ball 24

Chapter 5 Control Freak 29

Chapter 6 About-Face 38

Chapter 7 Photojournalism 44

Chapter 8 Chew 54

Chapter 9 Annex 60

Chapter 10 Posthumous 65

Chapter 11 Hydroplane 75

Chapter 12 Bombshell 85

Chapter 13 Meatloaf 93

Chapter 14 Convert 99

Chapter 15 Close Shave 106

Chapter 16 Spreadsheet 113

Chapter 17 Self-Interest 120

Chapter 18 Last Straw 125

Chapter 19 Reality 132

Chapter 20 Apprehension 137

Chapter 21 Heimlich Maneuver 144

Chapter 22 Distraught 150

Chapter 23 Cliffhanger 155

Chapter 24 Crestfallen 161

Chapter 25 Reconcile 170

Chapter 26 Proposition 175

Morty's Math Memorial 179

Acknowledgments 186

Editorial Reviews

10/19/2015
Math teacher and picture book author Souder (Whole-y Cow! Fractions Are Fun), upends neatnik Ella's numerophobia and assumptions about adults in this wholesome novel. Morty, a dead opossum that manages to catch a kickball thanks to the wonders of rigor mortis, and Wacky Willa, Ella's favorite aunt who arrives to share Ella's room for several weeks, propel radical changes in this fifth-grader's life. Supported by friends Jolina and Lucille, newcomer Jonathan, her parents, and some remarkably understanding teachers, Ella not only survives Willa's dog's tendency to swallow or throw up on everything important to her, but also the last-minute destruction of an important math project, with a summer free from tutoring hanging in the balance. Willa may not be the roommate Ella hoped for, but her loving encouragement and advice lend her a special role in her niece's life. Ella's narration doesn't always sound like that of a kid (and clichéd interjections from her French classmate, Jean-Pierre, are even less so), but readers should still find her adventures appealing and entertaining. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sally Apokedak, Leslie H. Stobbe Agency. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"Souders has a pretty good feel for middle (or nearly) school academic and social interactions....Diverting and frequently funny."—Kirkus Reviews

"Math fans and math phobes alike will gobble this one up. Math has never been more tasty, as Souders delivers a story as delicious as a Banana-Coco-Choco-Loco ice cream treat." —Claudia Mills, author of 7 x 9 = Trouble! and Annika Riz, Math Whiz

"Ella is kind, charming, and believably flawed. Souders has created a pitch-perfect story for reluctant readers—and reluctant math students.” —Courtney Sheinmel, author of the Stella Batts series

"The next time I hear someone say, 'Math has nothing to do with real life' I am going to tell them to read Dead Possums Are Fair Game. In this hysterically funny, fast-moving, and often poignant novel, Souders has a great time showing us that perfection isn’t always necessary and that sometimes we can’t control our circumstances but we can always control our reactions, even when math is involved. So, what does a dead opossum, a math phobic, a quirky aunt and a cast of lovable friends add up to? A great story told with heart. And as a self-admitted non-math person I have to say that Souders made math fun for me. Bravo." —Joyce Magnin, author of Cake: Love, Chickens, and a Taste of Peculiar and Carrying Mason

"Souders has a pretty good feel for middle (or nearly) school academic and social interactions....Diverting and frequently funny."—Kirkus Reviews

"Math fans and math phobes alike will gobble this one up. Math has never been more tasty, as Souders delivers a story as delicious as a Banana-Coco-Choco-Loco ice cream treat." —Claudia Mills, author of 7 x 9 = Trouble! and Annika Riz, Math Whiz

"Ella is kind, charming, and believably flawed. Souders has created a pitch-perfect story for reluctant readers—and reluctant math students.” —Courtney Sheinmel, author of the Stella Batts series

"The next time I hear someone say, 'Math has nothing to do with real life' I am going to tell them to read Dead Possums Are Fair Game. In this hysterically funny, fast-moving, and often poignant novel, Souders has a great time showing us that perfection isn’t always necessary and that sometimes we can’t control our circumstances but we can always control our reactions, even when math is involved. So, what does a dead opossum, a math phobic, a quirky aunt and a cast of lovable friends add up to? A great story told with heart. And as a self-admitted non-math person I have to say that Souders made math fun for me. Bravo." —Joyce Magnin, author of Cake: Love, Chickens, and a Taste of Peculiar and Carrying Mason

From the Publisher

2015-08-31
A opossum in rigor mortis "catches" a dodgeball and inspires a fifth-grade math project. Narrator Ella's aversion to math and desire for order collide in a day of disasters: there's a dead, rotting opossum on the way to school, an impending visit by an eccentric aunt with her pet dog, and a math-group project that will count for two test grades. Ella's project buddies are her longtime best friends Lucille and Jolina. Souders has a pretty good feel for middle (or nearly) school academic and social interactions. The girls have an affectionate—or at least tolerant—understanding of one another's quirks and foibles. They are teamed with a new student whose only fault is his name (Ella's mother's therapy for her intense arachnophobia is to think of every spider as "Jonathan," summoning automatic shudders). The rest of the characters fade to background or are caricatures, like Ella's French-immigrant classmate, Jean-Pierre, whose clunkily stereotyped exclamations seem time-warped: "Sacre bleu!" "Zut alors!" The several occasions of people—and the dog—spitting up or spitting out are goofily gross but clearly calculated to appeal to the target audience. And the dreadful smell of the opossum seems at odds with its condition of rigor mortis. However, the satisfactory conclusion—a teacher's recognition of a hurdle cleared—is within readers' reach. Diverting and frequently funny. (Fiction. 8-11)

Kirkus Reviews