SIR CUMFERENCE AND THE OFF-THE-CHARTS DESSERT
Author: Cindy Neuschwander
Illustrator: Wayne Geehan
Number of pages: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing (USA) First published in: 2012 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes Is this story part of a mathematics story series? Yes (Sir Cumference and Charlesbridge's Math Adventure) Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
Sir Cumference is back, and this time the castle cook is sick right when the annual Harvest Faire sweet is needed. Lady Di contacts two bakers in town, Pia of Chartres and Bart Graf, to see who makes the best dessert. When both Pia s pies and Bart s cookies prove delicious, a contest ensues. The methods Pia and Bart initially use to track their votes fail them, so they develope better systems Pia places a candy around the edges of a pie dough (like a pie chart), and Bart stacks up cookie tins (making a 3D bar graph). When there s a tie, the two chefs cook up a hybrid dessert that delights Sir Cumference and Lady Di, just in time for the Faire. |
“Once inside, Pia quickly arranged the candies by color and scored her dough round into sections. "Wonderful!" she thought. "There are 30 votes for custard pie, 15 for quince, 10 for apple, and 5 for mince."”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Cindy Neuschwander’s (2013) ‘Sir Cumference and the Off-the-charts Dessert’ is the eight title in the Sir Cumference series. The story features two bakers, Pia from Chartres in France and Bart Graf from Germany, who have been invited by Lady Di of Ameter and Sir Cumference to compete to see whose treat is the best to be selected for the Harvest Faire. Unable to decide themselves, Lady Di and Sir Cumference invite townsfolk to choose. The rest of the story follows the bakers’ attempts to find a clever way to record the votes they receive for each of their four treats. These attempts include the use of a floury tally chart, a dough pinches-based pictogram, a bar chart made from cookie molds and a pie chart using multi-colour sweetmeats. All in all, ‘Sir Cumference and the Off-the-charts Dessert’ is a great story picture book to introduce the concept of data handling to children aged 6+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author)
Recommended age range:
6 years old +
Relevant mathematics topics:
Data Handling
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.
Cindy Neuschwander’s (2013) ‘Sir Cumference and the Off-the-charts Dessert’ is the eight title in the Sir Cumference series. The story features two bakers, Pia from Chartres in France and Bart Graf from Germany, who have been invited by Lady Di of Ameter and Sir Cumference to compete to see whose treat is the best to be selected for the Harvest Faire. Unable to decide themselves, Lady Di and Sir Cumference invite townsfolk to choose. The rest of the story follows the bakers’ attempts to find a clever way to record the votes they receive for each of their four treats. These attempts include the use of a floury tally chart, a dough pinches-based pictogram, a bar chart made from cookie molds and a pie chart using multi-colour sweetmeats. All in all, ‘Sir Cumference and the Off-the-charts Dessert’ is a great story picture book to introduce the concept of data handling to children aged 6+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author)
Recommended age range:
6 years old +
Relevant mathematics topics:
Data Handling
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.