Sir Cumference and the Fracton Faire

Description

Sir Cumference and Lady Di discover "Fracton numbers" while purchasing cloth and cheese at the Fracton Faire. While twofourths may seem like the same as one-half, in truth it denotes two parts of one-half, or two quarters of the whole. But the real mystery is the fact that items at the fair keep disappearing, and Sir C, Lady Di, and the Earl of Fracton must set a numeric trap for the thief, teaching an important lesson along the way about the comparative size of fractions. Puns-both literal and visual-abound in this fun adventure story with beloved characters and a solid pedagogical foundation.

Cindy Neuschwander is a retired elementary school teacher who was inspired to write the Sir Cumference series while visiting medieval castles in England. She now works at California Polytechnic State University. She lives in San Luis Obispo, California. Wayne Geehan is the illustrator of Multiplying Menace, Cut Down to Size at High Noon, and the Sir Cumference series. He lives in Acton, Massachusetts.

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. --School Library Journal