Sir Cumference and the Fracton Faire
Cindy Neuschwander, author
Cindy Neuschwander is a native Californian, but she has lived in many places, including Germany, England, Austria, and Hawaii. 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. It has been followed by further adventures of Sir Cumference and his family. In her spare time, when she isn't writing or dreaming up new math adventures, Cindy enjoys activities with her family.
Read more about Cindy.
Wayne Geehan, illustrator
Wayne Geehan, a graduate of the Art Institute of Boston, has been illustrating books, board games, and jigsaw puzzles for over 20 years. When he isn't painting in his Massachusetts studio, he enjoys being with his family, reading, and researching his family's genealogy.
Read more about Wayne.
School Library Journal
Lady Di of Ameter, Sir Cumference, and Reginald Patron, the Earl of Fracton, visit the local faire, where they learn about fractions through the sale of cheese, cloth, and stolen merchandise. Concepts such as denominators, numerators, and equivalents are clearly explained through interactions with the various merchants. Some text is in dialogue balloons, for instance, during the puppet show and as the thieves search for fractions. The text uses several different terms to reinforce the concepts of fractions in spoken language. The soft, muted, color sketches are detailed and vary in size. Fractions are scattered throughout the illustrations. The white wax on yellow cloth used to show numerators and denominators makes the text a bit hard to read. The use of the word fracton, instead of the proper spelling, detracts from the math lesson. VERDICT Suitable for all libraries, this is a fun little math adventure that introduces the basics of fractions to early elementary audiences.
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-57091-771-4
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-57091-772-1
E-book
ISBN: 978-1-60734-850-4 EPUB
ISBN: 978-1-60734-851-1 PDF
Ages: 7-10
Page count: 32
8 1/2 x 9 1/2
Correlated to Common Core State Standards:
English Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 4. Standards 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10
English Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 5. Standards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10
Math. Content. Grade 4. Numbers and Operations--Fractions. A. Standards 1, 2