Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

Scientific Fairytales for Children: Book One: Little ZerO and Bully 9 is an educational fable for children written by Silvija D. Lechowick. The Community of Numbers lived deep down in a hole in a grassy meadow. The pit they inhabited had little access to the sun’s warmth and even less light, but over time the Numbers had come to consider it their home. They would occasionally try to escape their confinement, but to no avail, and so they had for the most part resigned themselves to calling it their home. They had three rooms to share: one for living, one for sleeping and a third was their larder where they grew button mushrooms. The Community was a peaceful one until number 9 began to think that, because he was bigger than the others, he was better, more deserving and more powerful. He soon began to treat the other numbers harshly. Each of the numbers below him began to follow suit: eight began to bully seven and seven six. The numbers all grew sadder and more stressed with their new relationships but ZerO, the littlest, was the saddest of them all.

Silvija D. Lechowick’s educational fable, Scientific Fairytales for Children: Book One: Little ZerO and Bully 9, is an entertaining and engaging story about cardinal numbers and their relationships, but it’s also about bullies and bullying. Bully 9’s behavior is shown to have a reverberating effect on everyone in the community, and, unchecked, you can see his behavior only gets worse. I loved witnessing that pivotal moment when someone has the temerity to stand up to the bully. Every schoolyard has its Bully 9 character, and Lechowick’s fable helps kids understand that bullies are not the all-powerful beings they want you to believe they are. Sometimes all it takes is to stand up to them. Her fable also explores the relationship of cardinal numbers and their values in a fun and original way. Scientific Fairytales for Children: Book One: Little ZerO and Bully 9 is highly recommended.