The Warlord's Beads

Warlord

by Virginia Walton Pilegard, Nicolas Debon (Illustrator)

Clever Chuan devises a simple way for his father to quickly and accurately count all the warlordis treasure.

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, China, School, Teaching

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Mrs. Pilegard was raised on a cattle ranch in

California's Sierra Nevada mountains. Her latest mathematical adventure picture book is illustrated by British artist Fiona Hodgetts and translated by Maria Cassandra Nah Ayuso. Nicolas Debon, the artist with whom she collaborated on the Warlord Series, includes a horse somewhere in the illustrations in each of their seven books to celebrate her first love. Nicolas includes dragonflies in his illustrations as his own signature. Adrian Tans illustrated Mrs. Pilegard's eighth mathematical adventure picture book. Pilegard still lives in California's foothills with her husband Richard, three dogs, and a Maine Coon cat named "Jetsam."

Reviews

[Cheryl A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

openlibrary
I'm sure that the Chinese people had better ways to count even before the abacus was invented. And it wasn't a child who invented it. If I'm wrong, I won't learn so, because there's no explanatory back matter here. Just a sketch of a counting frame to inspire kids to make their own from Froot Loops. I didn't particularly care for the pictures, either.

[Joselyn Guizar]

"The Warlord's Beads" is a book from the Warlord's series, but I couldn't find the next books. However, this book has very nice details and illustrations and I recommend this book to any teacher to teach students about the Chinese culture between a father and a son.

[Esther May · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about counting with an abacus.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story about the 1st abacus!

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and quick read for when you’re starting to learn abacus. 🧮

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abacus: Boy is now named. Moved to castle as a result of solving previous puzzle. Then new conflict is mentioned: father having a hard time counting on his own and remembering what number he is on.

Math included: Grouping, first using fingers and toes for hundreds and tens. Then needed something that didn't move. Starts using beads, but has three places: hundreds, tens, and ones. Introduces abacus at the end.

[Katie Logonauts · Rating 4 out of 5]

The peasant and his young son now live in the warlord's palace, but the father has been tasked with counting the warlord's vast treasure. Worried that they keep losing count spurs his son, Chuan, to invent the first abacus. The Author's Note describes the first documented use of the abacus in 14th century China and includes directions for making your own abacus.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed that there had to be so much conflict and rude behavior in some of the characters. The "discovery/invention" of using beads to count and add, and the suggested activity in the back are nice, but the story isn't great.

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this story a young Chinese boy helps his father to count an inventory of treasure by creating a counting frame (the predecessor of the abacus). Additional information about the abacus and craft instructions on how to make your own are included after the story.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good one to read aloud and talk about overcoming distractions - perfect for my focus-challenged 8yo! The end notes were pretty flimsy and could be much improved. But there was a craft idea included that could be really great for building math skills.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was better than the first and illustrated the usefulness of an abacus brilliantly. Another engaging and entertaining living math book!

[Melanie]

Math elements in the book.

[The Brothers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great "fable" of how a young boys helped his father count the warlord's loot and in the process invented the abacus.

Really great illustrations.

[Ana LibrariAna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book to use for Chinese New Year, math and problem solving.