The Warlord's Beads - Hardcover

by Virginia Pilegard (Author), Nicolas Debon (Illustrator)

Introduce your little reader to numbers with this tale of a boy in ancient China crafting an abacus to help his father count a warlord's treasure.

Young Chuan lives with his father in the beautiful palace of a powerful Chinese warlord. As a reward for his cleverness in solving the warlord's puzzle, Father is given the job of tallying the warlord's treasure--brilliant jewels, rich brocades, and spices from a thousand lands. Life at the palace is luxurious but filled with so many interruptions Father often loses count! The varying totals lead the suspicious warlord to accuse him of stealing, and Father is about to lose hope. Just in time, Chuan discovers a special use for the warlord's lovely jade beads--a use that will help Father keep an accurate tally and cause the warlord to pronounce Chuan as clever as his Father. Often used by teachers of the primary grades to illustrate the powerful concept of "base ten," various types of counting frames appeared in China during the Middle Ages. The Warlord's Beads is a valuable tool for introducing young readers to the wonder of numbers as well as the beauty and mystery of ancient China.

Praise for The Warlord's Beads

A November/December 2001 Booksense 76 Selection

Accelerated Reader Program Selection

"Debon's distinctive artwork adds to the fairy tale feeling of this story." --Children's Literature

"Debon evocatively depicts court dress and decorative details . . . Capped with a diagram for a modern version of Chuan's counting frame made of cardboard, pipe cleaners, and o-shaped breakfast cereal." --Kirkus Reviews

"Debon's well-composed, often dramatic, and sometimes comical paintings bring the story to life. With or without the math lesson, a good picture book for reading aloud." --Booklist

"Helpful to children learning how to count, add, and subtract and is a good choice for most collections." --School Library Journal

"Children will not be disappointed in this sequel to the award-winning The Warlord's Puzzle." --JoAnn Lum, Hipfish Magazine

Front Jacket

A NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 BOOKSENSE 76 SELECTION ACCELERATED READER PROGRAM SELECTION

"Debon's distinctive artwork adds to the fairy tale feeling of this story." --Children's Literature

"Debon evocatively depicts court dress and decorative details . . . capped with a diagram for a modern version of Chuan's counting frame made of cardboard, pipe cleaners, and o-shaped breakfast cereal" --Kirkus Reviews

"With or without the math lesson, a good picture book for reading aloud." --Booklist

"Helpful to children learning how to count, add, and subtract and is a good choice for most collections." --School Library Journal

"Virginia Walton Pilegard's The Warlord's Puzzle explained the origins of the tangram. Now, detailing a boy's attempts to count the warlord's treasure, she investigates another mathematical invention, the abacus . . ."--Publishers Weekly

"Children will not be disappointed in this sequel to the award-winning The Warlord's Puzzle."--JoAnn Lum, Hipfish Magazine

Shining bronze coins, elegant jade statues, valuable jewels, and spices of all kinds found their way into the counting room for Father to inventory, but with almost constant interruptions, he keeps losing his place! When the totals begin to vary, the warlord suspects Father is a thief. Clever son Chuan knows better and devises a simple way to quickly and accurately count all the treasure the warlord gathers.

Author Biography

Together, the team of Virginia Walton Pilegard and illustrator Nicolas Debon has earned great praise for the highly successful Warlord's Series. The Warlord's Puzzle was selected for the Book Sense '76 list, a compilation of independent booksellers' top picks across the country, in May 2000 and is part of the California Board of Education's recommended reading list for grades K-12. The Warlord's Beads made the Book Sense '76 list in November 2001. Pilegard's lifelong desire to write and her sense of wonder led her to create stories for children in which she uses informal geometry, mathematics, and science concepts to strengthen students' visual-learning abilities. Believing a good picture book can help children process math concepts in three ways, she has completed eight mathematical adventures. In each, bright pictures give visual clues, the story begging to be read aloud offers auditory clues, and a simple craft provides tactical kinesthetic clues to enrich children's learning. For each of the Warlord's books, which are set in China, Pilegard spends hours in university and public libraries, scours bookstores and the Internet, quizzes Chinese American friends, and corresponds with authorities on various aspects of Chinese life from Seattle to Beijing in order to bring authenticity to the series. In August 2002 and again in November 2007, she traveled to China to continue her research. A proud member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the California Reading Association, and the California Mathematics Council, Pilegard has worked as an elementary-school teacher and has volunteered in a juvenile corrections facility. She and her husband, Richard, are proud parents and grandparents.