Synopses & Reviews
"If this is an adventure, we should just plunge in..."
When thirteen-year-old cousins Ivan and Daphne go on a treasure hunt in the rain one summer day, they never expect to stumble into a whole new world where words and numbers run wild.
After the cousins outwit a plague of punctuation, grateful villagers beg them to find Lexicon's missing children, who have been enticed away by dancing lights in the sky. Trekking between villages in search of clues, the cousins encounter a talking thesaurus, a fog of forgetting, the Mistress of Metaphor, a panel of poets, feuding parts of speech, and the illogical mathematicians of Irrationality. When a careless Mathemystical reflects them across the border into the ominous Land of Night, their peril deepens. Kidnapped, imprisoned, and mesmerizedwith time running outwill Ivan and Daphne find a way to solve the mystery of the lights in the sky and restore the lost children of Lexicon to their homes?
Lost in Lexicon will whisk children away into an interactive and magical world of learning.
Review
"...This is an adventure story for the digital generation, and Lost in Lexicon breaks new ground in the adventure genre. This rollicking, often tongue-in-cheek novel will appeal to young readers who need a break from their computer games and long to journey into the woods of learning." — ForeWord Reviews
Review
2013-2014 Lamplighter List Nominee, Triple Crown Awards
"Noyces imaginative, playful use of words and numbers keeps readers engaged throughout the story ... The charming story, along with the focus questions and extension activities at the end of the book, make this an entertaining selection for student-led reading discussions at the upper elementary and intermediate level." Teaching Children Mathematics, September 2012, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (reviewed by Jennifer Geoffroy, D.C. Public Schools, Washington, D.C.)
PSLA YA Fiction Top 40 (or so) 2011 selection
"Filled with sensational vocabulary and literary elements and marvelous mathematics..." - Christine Massey, JW Parker Middle School Librarian, PSLA reviewer
Honorable mention in Children's Literature for the New England Book Festival's Holiday Feature
Award-winning Finalist in the Children's Fiction and Children's Educational categories of The USA "Best Books 2011" Awards
Mom's Choice Awards® 2011 Winner - Gold (Juvenile Books Level 2, Ages 9-12)
Winner of the 2011 IBPA Ben Franklin Award for Interior Design 1-2 Color
Parents' Choice Recommended Award Winner
Independent Publisher Book Award Silver Medal
ForeWord's 2010 Book of the Year Award Honorable Mention - Juvenile Fiction and Finalist - Young Adult Fiction
Award-winning Finalist for Children's Fiction in the 2011 International Book Awards
Indie Next Kid's List Pick Winter 2011
Under the guise of an adventure novel, Lost in Lexicon expertly incorporates educational elements into the storyline to deliver a true learning experience. Just as The Phantom Tollbooth
did years ago, this book pushes readers to see the familiar from a new perspective and to open their minds to fresh ideas. Sweet on Books
"...This is an adventure story for the digital generation, and Lost in Lexicon breaks new ground in the adventure genre. This rollicking, often tongue-in-cheek novel will appeal to young readers who need a break from their computer games and long to journey into the woods of learning." ForeWord Reviews
"...An engaging and original narrative is the main strength of this series opener. Math and grammar concepts are nicely integrated. Noyce keeps up the pace by limiting descriptive passages but offers little character introduction. Ivan and Daphne do grow over the course of their quest, finding strength in their ability to tackle subjects that once overwhelmed them and working as a team to solve each mathematical and linguistic puzzle. Well-imagined illustrations help bring the pair to life...Persistent readers will be rewarded with a good adventure, affecting lyrical passages, and thought-provoking questions relevant to our own society." School Library Journal, Jayne Damron, Farmington Community Library, MI
"The setup to many a great story...A strange and beautiful world of grammatical and mathematical troubles...a good vacation is priceless." Teresa DiFalco, 2011 Parents' Choice, a Recommended Award Winner
"Lost in Lexicon...will make even the most complacent kid temporarily forget the distractions of screen and phone in favor of investigating, calculating, solving, and discovering and adults who read it will be carried along too, by a story thats plain-spoken and involving." Open Letters Monthly
"Ivan and Daphne never expected a grammar lesson to be quite so...animated. Lost in Lexicon: An Adventure in Words and Numbers follows the two cousins as they come to the town of Lexicon, a land where language and mathematics take on a very different life...Blending education and entertainment, Lost in Lexicon is a fun read that is very much recommended." Midwest Book Review
"Lost in Lexicon receives high marks for bold, unapologetic, undisguised inclusion of math and language in a fantasy narrative, which is truly unique and fills a niche for educators." Compass Book Ratings (formerly Squeaky Clean Reads)
"Its a paean to imagination, learning and thinking for oneself its advocating all those things that make life truly enjoyable. Lost in Lexicon can show a child many things, in the context of a compelling story built of truly interesting characters on a wild adventure." Linda White, Minneapolis Books Examiner