Book Review: The Counting Game.

Photograph by VSRao

The Counting Game Book One: About a Child with Dyscalculia by Cynthia Fabian is a very optimistic book. The author shows through the eyes of an eleven-year-old, Max the issues someone is facing with dyscalculia.

I heard of dyslexia but never dyscalculia. It turns our dyscalculia is the inability of the brain to perceive numbers resulting in difficulty using them in any form or calculations.

Max is suffering from dyscalculia, and because of that, he is the target of bullying from the other kids in his school. The author by presenting the problem of dyscalculia from the patient’s point of view makes it more interesting and exciting.

The book is well written; the dialogs are fast and fluid. The plot is easy to follow and does not offer many surprises. The use and installment of pets like Boss the dog and Pecos the Parrot is a brilliant touch into the story. Furthermore, the dialog plots become alive by the participation of the pets. I think the author managed to bring alive of how a family with kids and pets function and operate. I think the book’s most valuable conclusion is that if there is a will, there is always a way.

Max’s parents do anything in their power to help their son overcome his math difficulty. That’s why they encourage him to start playing the guitar. It turns out that learning how to read music and playing an instrument helped with Max’s condition and he got better. He even started using the numbers correctly, and his dyscalculia level went down almost to average people.

The story is optimistic which it was a breath of fresh air. The description of Max’s actions is an excellent example of what good parenting and the book worth reading just to see Max’s parent in action. Anyone can learn a lot from this book.

In a nutshell, the book deals with dyscalculia, tell what it is, and suggests ways of treating it. The fun fact about it is that it does it using a beautiful story.

Highly recommend it.

 

Andreas Michaelides

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