SIR CUMFERENCE AND THE GREAT KNIGHT OF ANGLELAND
Author: Cindy Neuschwander
Illustrator: Wayne Geehan
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Number of pages: 31
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing (USA) First published in: 2001 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
Radius is on a quest to earn his knighthood! With only a circular medallion, a mysterious poem, and his own wits to guide him, he must find and rescue a missing king. |
“"Slow down," Radius told himself, "and measure once more." He carefully lined up the medallion and read the numbers. The first angle was 93. "Too big," he said. The next angle was 85. "Too small," he muttered.”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Cindy Neuschwander’s (2001) ‘Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland’ is the third title in the Sir Cumference series. The story follows Radius, Sir Cumference’s son, in his quest to find King Lell who has been missing. Stumbled upon a castle, Radius spots a riddle at its entrance. Part of the riddle says in order to find the king: ‘You must make a Knightly Right, Finding next Big, Straight, and Slight.’ Once inside the castle, Radius soon quickly learns that a protractor-shaped medallion that his mother, Lady Di of Ameter, has given him for courage, can be used to measure angles, and thus to solve the riddle. The story does a great job in turning an everyday mathematics learning tool like a protractor into a cool and mysterious ancient medallion. What’s more – a copy of the medallion is also given at the back of the book for children to have a go at measuring angles themselves. Cindy also cleverly addresses one of the common issues children have with using a protractor (i.e. not measuring angles accurately enough) in the story (pp. 22-23). The story ends with a tongue-in-cheek and supposedly historical account of how degrees, obtuse, acute and parallel all got their names. The only suggestion we want to make is how there should be a blown-up illustration of the medallion on either p. 14 or p. 15 to clearly show how the medallion is used by Radius to find the right angle. All in all, ‘Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland’ is a fun and useful story picture book to introduce or reinforce the concept of angle measurement to children aged 8+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author)
Recommended age range:
8 years old +
Relevant mathematics topics:
2D Shapes
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 (2001) ‘Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland’ is the third title in the Sir Cumference series. The story follows Radius, Sir Cumference’s son, in his quest to find King Lell who has been missing. Stumbled upon a castle, Radius spots a riddle at its entrance. Part of the riddle says in order to find the king: ‘You must make a Knightly Right, Finding next Big, Straight, and Slight.’ Once inside the castle, Radius soon quickly learns that a protractor-shaped medallion that his mother, Lady Di of Ameter, has given him for courage, can be used to measure angles, and thus to solve the riddle. The story does a great job in turning an everyday mathematics learning tool like a protractor into a cool and mysterious ancient medallion. What’s more – a copy of the medallion is also given at the back of the book for children to have a go at measuring angles themselves. Cindy also cleverly addresses one of the common issues children have with using a protractor (i.e. not measuring angles accurately enough) in the story (pp. 22-23). The story ends with a tongue-in-cheek and supposedly historical account of how degrees, obtuse, acute and parallel all got their names. The only suggestion we want to make is how there should be a blown-up illustration of the medallion on either p. 14 or p. 15 to clearly show how the medallion is used by Radius to find the right angle. All in all, ‘Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland’ is a fun and useful story picture book to introduce or reinforce the concept of angle measurement to children aged 8+ years old. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher/author)
Recommended age range:
8 years old +
Relevant mathematics topics:
2D Shapes
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.
