Gullwick, the Island That Shares · ages 6-8

The Seven Patch

The idea: two dice, and why seven comes up most.

Read it

Sprout 292 words Grower 1020 words · 9 chapters Reader 3769 words · 10 chapters

One story, three ways: Sprout for a new reader, Grower in short chapters, Reader as a full chapter book. Same plot, same ending.

Who is in this book

Poppa Pike The bridge is built by everyone laying one plank from IslePals
Lucky With two dice, seven has the most ways to come up from SevenPals
Lan a child of the Green Goes first; makes a friend in a minute
Beto a child of the Green Takes things apart
Dot Count every way, one careful step at a time from SevenPals
Petal The more ways a total has, the taller its pile grows — a hill, tallest in the middle from SevenPals
Twobble Rare is not never — two has one way, so it comes, just not often from SevenPals

Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.

The Honest Page

Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?

True

Two dice can land thirty-six ways. Seven can be made six of them, more than any other total.
Six and eight can each be made five ways. Two and twelve can each be made only one way.
Six, seven and eight together make sixteen of the thirty-six ways, nearly half.
The most likely total is not the total you get every time. A rare total still turns up sometimes. Source

Stretched

The twelve tides in this story were chosen by the writer. Seven came up three times. What we simplified: On a real day of twelve rolls, seven might come up once, or four times, or not at all; about twice is what you would expect.

Made up

Drift Day, the numbered patches and the talking beetles and snail are made up. Real tides do not roll dice.

Tell it back

Tell the story in your own words: who was there, what went wrong, and what they found out. Then the second span's last plank, carved LIKELY goes on your belt.

Ring the hammer for someone

Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.

Across the Table → For the grown-up: the story in three lines, one question to ask, and one thing to do together.