Snacking shrews and curious mammoths—not your typical guides for learning math concepts. But that’s the magic of David Macaulay, who employs the appealing creatures in his latest work, Mammoth Math: Everything You Need to Know About Numbers (DK).

The award-winning author and illustrator joined School Library Journal senior editor Kimberly Fakih for a keynote conversation at Picture Book Palooza, SLJ’s annual event held virtually July 14, 2022.

In a wide-ranging chat, Macaulay discussed how he works, walking viewers through a spread from the book on the Fibonacci Sequence. In typical Macaulay style, the highly visual pages illuminate a complex concept through detailed rendering and whimsy.

The Polyhedron spread, to Fakih’s delight, featured several elephant shrews tucking into prism-shaped snacks. “If you can eat math, you’ve got it,” quipped Macaulay.