Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter -Perfect Picture Book Friday

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sirTitle: Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter – a Math Adventure

Written by Cindy Neuschwander

Illustrated by Wayne Geehan

Published by Charlesbridge, 2006

Ages: 8 -13

Themes: math, geometry, medieval times, islands, riddles, adventure, legends, sea serpents,

Opening lines:

Young Per sat with her uncle and aunt, Sir Cumference and Lady Di of Ameter. Her cousin, Radius, was teaching her the game of Inners and Edges.

Synopsis:

“Sir Cumference returns in this tale that introduces readers to the concepts of perimeter and area. As in the previous books, Neuschwander’s characters have names that play with mathematical terminology. In this adventure Per visits his uncle and aunt (Sir Cumference and Lady Di of Ameter). After learning a game involving inners and edges, she and her cousin Radius become embroiled in a mystery with a secret message and a threatening sea serpent. To solve it, the youngsters must travel to the Isle of Immeter and use a series of geometric formulas to tame the sea serpent and bring peace to the area. Readers already familiar with these formulas will have the most ease understanding and solving the mystery.” SLJ

The book covers area and perimeter of rectangular shapes and derivation of the area of a circle.

Why I like this book:

Fabulous fun resource for teachers/parents introducing the concepts of perimeter and area to children. There four earlier books in the series that go well with this one. I love the choice of setting this in a medieval period. Apparently Neuschwander, an elementary teacher with a passion for math, got the idea while visiting medieval castles in England. I also find the combination of riddles and math a great one for kids. This was a great reminder of these math concepts for ME, too! Not only does this book teach students math concepts, but it is also engaging and interesting and full of adventure. The illustrations are bright and vivid, which will create a connection for the student to use when they need help. I do like the outcome for the dangerous sea serpent!

Activities:

Have the children create and play Inners and Edges, the math game introduced on the first page of the story.

There are hands on activity ideas included in the story as well, so the teacher/parent can instruct students through the activity as they read the book.

The final page of the book explains how Per and Radius learnt about the formulae.

The Sir Cumference series is reviewed on the Living Math website.

Every Friday, authors and KidLit bloggers post a favorite picture book.  To see a complete listing of all the Perfect Picture Books with resources, please visit author Susanna Leonard Hill’s Perfect Picture Books

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21 Responses to Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter -Perfect Picture Book Friday

  1. Krista says:

    Thank you, Joanna. I used Sir Cumference and the First Round Table in my classroom and the students loved it!

  2. Two math books so far this week on PPBF! These are great suggestions to keep kids thinking over the summer while school is out.

  3. Somehow I knew this was your pick.. Castles and math — who would have thought a math concept book! It really sounds like a fun interesting read. There are so many creative authors with wonderful ideas. Great addition to our PPBF list.

  4. Love the play on words, this sounds awesome!

  5. Joanna says:

    Yep, the names make me laugh, Erik!

  6. We loved this book (and the other one about the Knights of the Round Table, I think it was called) when my kids were little. I have a special fondness for all science and math books but especially when they’re in PB format. 🙂

  7. Yes! Yes! Yes! We love this series in our house. Thank-you for the great review.

  8. Yay for books that make math fun! Great find, Joanna – happy to read so many positive comments too.

  9. Another fun Maths book. Great minds I think… 🙂 Maths was never I subject I liked at school. But interesting books like this might have helped. Thanks Joanna.

  10. Thank you fro adding this fun math picture book to our list, Joanna! I can’t believe it, but I think this is the first of this series to show up here! We have the first three and they were popular in our house, but I have never read this one – I shall have to go find it 🙂

  11. Joanna says:

    Yes, I checked with the PPBF lists and saw it hadn’t been added yet. Yay for another household that loved them!

  12. Hannah Holt says:

    Oh, this sounds like a ton of fun. Just my kind of book. Thanks for sharing!

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