Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens

Illustrated by Wayne Geehan
Look inside
Hardcover
$16.95 US
8.75"W x 9.88"H x 0.31"D  
On sale Jul 01, 2009 | 32 Pages | 978-1-57091-727-1
| Grades 2-5
Reading Level: Lexile 720L | Fountas & Pinnell N
Join Sir Cumference and the gang for more wordplay, puns, and problem solving in the clever math adventure about place-value and counting by tens.

Sir Cumference and Lady Di planned a surprise birthday party for King Arthur, but they didn’t expect so many guests to show up. How many lunches will they need? And with more guests arriving by the minute, what about dinner? Sir Cumference and Lady Di count guests by tens, hundreds, and even thousands to help young readers learn place-value.

Fans will love this new installment of the Sir Cumference series that makes math fun and accessible for all.
Cindy Neuschwander is a native Californian born in San Diego. She received a BA in international studies from Willamette University and an MA in education from Stanford University. She has been teaching since 1975, both at the high school and elementary levels. As a mathematics education specialist, Cindy sought ways to make math fun, interesting, and comprehensible to her students. In 1992, while living in England, Cindy began working on her first book with this goal in mind. Sir Cumference and the First Round Table took five years to reach publication, but it remains a very popular book for its presentation of math concepts as well as for its amusing and exciting story. View titles by Cindy Neuschwander
Wayne Geehan, a graduate of the Art Institute of Boston, has been illustrating books, board games, and jigsaw puzzles for over 20 years. He is the illustrator of Multiplying Menace and Cut Down to Size at High Noon, as well as the Sir Cumference series. When he isn't painting in his Massachusetts studio, he enjoys being with his family, reading, and researching his family's genealogy. View titles by Wayne Geehan
“The last time we saw the king, he seemed a bit gloomy,” said Lady Di of Ameter to her husband, Sir Cumference, one evening. “His birthday is soon. Let’s give him a surprise party here at our castle to cheer him up. We could invite people from the entire countryside.”
            “That’s a fine idea!” answered Sir Cumference. “We’ll plan a huge celebration for him.”
Sir Cumference and his wife, Lady Di, are back in another math adventure. As the hosts of a surprise birthday party for King Arthur, the couple needs to organize a growing number of guests for events to run smoothly. After several fumbling attempts to count the crowd, Sir Cumference realizes that the simplest way to figure out the total is to group the guests into tens, hundreds, and ultimately thousands. This system allows the royal celebration to take place without a hitch, resulting in a happy ending for all. Children will enjoy the lesson built into this tale and identify with the birthday-party theme. While the story can be enjoyed independently, most youngsters would benefit from sharing the book with an adult to fully understand the place value system. The math concept is explained in more detail in an author’s note. The painterly acrylic illustrations convey the action with humorous exaggeration and amusing details (the depiction of a farmer and his wife is reminiscent of Grant Wood’s American Gothic). Libraries in which this series is popular will want to consider purchasing this title.

School Library Journal

About

Join Sir Cumference and the gang for more wordplay, puns, and problem solving in the clever math adventure about place-value and counting by tens.

Sir Cumference and Lady Di planned a surprise birthday party for King Arthur, but they didn’t expect so many guests to show up. How many lunches will they need? And with more guests arriving by the minute, what about dinner? Sir Cumference and Lady Di count guests by tens, hundreds, and even thousands to help young readers learn place-value.

Fans will love this new installment of the Sir Cumference series that makes math fun and accessible for all.

Author

Cindy Neuschwander is a native Californian born in San Diego. She received a BA in international studies from Willamette University and an MA in education from Stanford University. She has been teaching since 1975, both at the high school and elementary levels. As a mathematics education specialist, Cindy sought ways to make math fun, interesting, and comprehensible to her students. In 1992, while living in England, Cindy began working on her first book with this goal in mind. Sir Cumference and the First Round Table took five years to reach publication, but it remains a very popular book for its presentation of math concepts as well as for its amusing and exciting story. View titles by Cindy Neuschwander
Wayne Geehan, a graduate of the Art Institute of Boston, has been illustrating books, board games, and jigsaw puzzles for over 20 years. He is the illustrator of Multiplying Menace and Cut Down to Size at High Noon, as well as the Sir Cumference series. When he isn't painting in his Massachusetts studio, he enjoys being with his family, reading, and researching his family's genealogy. View titles by Wayne Geehan

Excerpt

“The last time we saw the king, he seemed a bit gloomy,” said Lady Di of Ameter to her husband, Sir Cumference, one evening. “His birthday is soon. Let’s give him a surprise party here at our castle to cheer him up. We could invite people from the entire countryside.”
            “That’s a fine idea!” answered Sir Cumference. “We’ll plan a huge celebration for him.”

Praise

Sir Cumference and his wife, Lady Di, are back in another math adventure. As the hosts of a surprise birthday party for King Arthur, the couple needs to organize a growing number of guests for events to run smoothly. After several fumbling attempts to count the crowd, Sir Cumference realizes that the simplest way to figure out the total is to group the guests into tens, hundreds, and ultimately thousands. This system allows the royal celebration to take place without a hitch, resulting in a happy ending for all. Children will enjoy the lesson built into this tale and identify with the birthday-party theme. While the story can be enjoyed independently, most youngsters would benefit from sharing the book with an adult to fully understand the place value system. The math concept is explained in more detail in an author’s note. The painterly acrylic illustrations convey the action with humorous exaggeration and amusing details (the depiction of a farmer and his wife is reminiscent of Grant Wood’s American Gothic). Libraries in which this series is popular will want to consider purchasing this title.

School Library Journal

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