Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi: A Math Adventure by Cindy Neuschwander

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am such a math nerd--I love this book! I love the names of the characters (Sir Cumference and his son Radius, Geo Metry and his brother Sym, Lady Di of Ameter, etc.) and the way the author tells a fairy tale about a knight turning into a dragon when he drinks a potion, and really it's a funny way to explain the meaning of the mathematical value/symbol "π." ("pi"--in case my inserted symbol doesn't translate in cyberspace)

My only real quibble with this picture book, well, I have two: the reverse potion poem has problems with its meter and is a little hard to read out loud, and the illustrations look a little pixelated as though someone scanned images of paintings and then tried to blow them up a little too far. But otherwise, I think this book is great! Perfect for reading to elementary age kids, and I think it could even work (with the right group of kids) in a math class about to embark upon the new and strange world of irrational numbers. Woohoo! (Hey--I already admitted to being a math nerd.)


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