Comic makes math add up in her books
By Cathalena E. Burch
Cburch@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.04.2008
Comedian Paula Poundstone was convinced she would never write another book after the nine years she spent penning her first one, "There's Nothing in This Book That I Meant to Say," released in 2006.
So it was a bit surprising to learn she has written a series of math books with her high school math teacher that are being used in schools around the country.
"It doesn't really fit, does it?" Poundstone commented during a phone call from California in late July, the day after an earthquake rattled Los Angeles.
The whole thing got started because Poundstone was complaining to the teacher, Faye Nisonoff Ruopp, about the state of today's school math books. Poundstone admits she's no math whiz, so when her three kids— two daughters, 17 and 14, and a 10-year-old son — asked for help with their math homework, she ended up doing the problems herself so that she could explain to them how to do it.
"Well, they've now seen the answer," she said. "So I would rewrite them a question that had the same kind of problem. Just for the hell of it, I used to make them word problems and I would make them personal to the kids."
When she told Ruopp about the stories, the teacher proposed the pair write a math book.
They've written three under the title "The Math With a Laugh Series." The books include characters and stories that revolve around math problems and concepts, and they are geared to grades four through nine.
"It was fun to actually create characters, which I had never done before. It was my big foray into fiction, and I actually really enjoyed it," said the veteran comic, 48, who plays a show at Centennial Hall on Friday. "I had Leonardo Digit, whose father owned a numbers store. Leonardo actually works in the store, but his secret dream is to be in the circus."
At Friday's UApresents concert, Poundstone will sell copies of her first book, and she'll donate a portion of the proceeds to the Friends of the Pima County Public Library.
Poundstone has a deep respect for libraries and library volunteers, in particular those who teach adult literacy.
"Man, the courage it must take to come say, 'Hey, you know what, I'm an adult and I need to know how to read. . . . This person (volunteer) using this energy knows for sure, just because of the courage it took to go ask for that help, that every ounce of their energy is going to duplicate itself in a ripple effect," Poundstone said. "There are such defenders of democracy there. They are sitting on top of all the ideas.
"And all the ideas are in there together, cover to cover. Sitting among one another, without squabbling," she marveled. "You think that when you open up the door to the library there would be a screaming noise. The cacophony of 'No, no, not like that! Like this.' Two different how-to books going at each other's throats. 'No, you tape first and then you paint.' " Profound, you tell her, and she agrees.
Poundstone might expound on her love of libraries at Friday's concert, but she also might talk about how she was recently guilted into using a no-kill trap to snag a rat in her house. It worked, and now she must decide what to do with the live rat.
"So now you have to decide which neighborhood is full of people you don't like enough. So I'm taking him to Brentwood tonight. I was just over talking to him about it. 'Look, they are rich people. Food's going to be better. You and your little friends, don't be coming around here, OK. There's a lot of nice restaurants. You can go see the O.J. house. Everybody likes to see the O.J. house.'
"He seems nervous and apprehensive. For him this is a transitional period. Plus he's a rat; he's used to people killing him."
She might even talk about that earthquake, which hit while she was in the watch shop:
"All I could think of later was, 'What if this was the big one, and we had to hunker down with the man who owns the watch shop?' He's an unpleasant character. We'd always know what time it was, though."
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