Emma's New Game by Gerald Mercer

Emma's New Game by Gerald Mercer is actually the second book in a series of books about a little girl named Emma that lives in Newfoundland.  In Emma's New Game Emma's grandfather tells Emma and her friends about a game he and his friends used to play when they were younger.  The game was played with chestnuts.  Emma's friends run home to ask their grandfather's about the game and before too long the grandchildren and the grandfathers meet together for a match to find out who is the champion.

Both the author and illustrator, Jillian Nicol, are from Newfoundland. 

I love this book because it shows a wonderful relationship between the generations.  Anna wants us to find some chestnuts and play the game as soon as we can.  I've promised we'll do that early in the fall.

Emma's New Game would make a great addition to a number of different learning situations.  It could be used in a social studies lesson to start a discussion on the types of games people played in times past.  It would be a fun addition to a science lesson about different trees and tree identification and uses of trees.  It could be used as the jump of point to a math lesson about addition, discussing the way that champions were named in the game.

I see a revival of the game as children are exposed to the book Emma's New Game.