TANGRAM CAT
Author: Maranke Rinck
Illustrator: Martijn van der Linden
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Number of pages: 47
Publisher: Lemniscaat (The Netherlands) First published in: 2017 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes Is this story part of a mathematics story series? No Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
A boy plays with tangram. He uses the pieces to lay a cat – a wonderful cat of course; you can leave that up to Martijn van der Linden. But the cat feels lonely... Suddenly I understood the cat. ‘You want someone to play with!’ I said. The cat still didn ’t say anything. But I knew I was right. Now tangram isn’t easy. The boy thinks he’s laying down a new cat, but it turns out to be a dog, which chases after the cat. A new try turns out to be a crocodile – not what you would call a nice friend! The cat has to put up with a lot before the boy gets a really good idea. He lays down himself! Now they can play together. Artist couple Martijn and Maranke constantly reinvent themselves. In Tangram Cat , they surpass themselves yet again. All pictures in the book can be made with the tangram game that is included at the back. |
“I was bored, and so they gave me a puzzle. [...] The puzzle has only seven pieces. Seven! They said I could use them to make all kinds of things. Of course I didn't believe them. But I had nothing else to do, so I made a ...”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
Originally in Dutch, Maranke Rinck’s ‘Tangram Cat’ (2017) is a story about a boy who tried to keep himself entertained by creating an imaginary cat and other animals for the cat to play with through the use of tangrams. The book (the hardback version) comes with a set of high quality tangrams so readers can take them out and either try to replicate the animals in the story or create their own ones. Just like other tangram stories (such as ‘Grandfather Tang’s Story: A Tale Told with Tangrams’ and ‘It was Halloween Night: A Scary Math Story with Tangrams’), ‘Tangram Cat’ provides wonderful opportunities for teacher/parent and their children to discuss properties of basic 2D shapes as well as area and perimeter of individual 2D shapes and compound ones. The illustrations by Martijn van der Linden are simply delightful, and the comparison between imagined animals and their tangram forms throughout the story is also useful. One additional feature that we would welcome on this book is a visual glossary of names of the different 2D shapes found in tangrams to help young readers learn and practise using these mathematical terms. All in all, we highly recommend ‘Tangram Cat’ for children aged 5+ years old. This is a great gift for children (and adults!) who love tangrams and/or cats! (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher)
Recommended age range:
5 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.
Originally in Dutch, Maranke Rinck’s ‘Tangram Cat’ (2017) is a story about a boy who tried to keep himself entertained by creating an imaginary cat and other animals for the cat to play with through the use of tangrams. The book (the hardback version) comes with a set of high quality tangrams so readers can take them out and either try to replicate the animals in the story or create their own ones. Just like other tangram stories (such as ‘Grandfather Tang’s Story: A Tale Told with Tangrams’ and ‘It was Halloween Night: A Scary Math Story with Tangrams’), ‘Tangram Cat’ provides wonderful opportunities for teacher/parent and their children to discuss properties of basic 2D shapes as well as area and perimeter of individual 2D shapes and compound ones. The illustrations by Martijn van der Linden are simply delightful, and the comparison between imagined animals and their tangram forms throughout the story is also useful. One additional feature that we would welcome on this book is a visual glossary of names of the different 2D shapes found in tangrams to help young readers learn and practise using these mathematical terms. All in all, we highly recommend ‘Tangram Cat’ for children aged 5+ years old. This is a great gift for children (and adults!) who love tangrams and/or cats! (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher)
Recommended age range:
5 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.
