The Warlord's Puzzle

I would have liked a more thorough author's note, or further reading, but I suppose the brief note given is all that is actually relevant that is available. It does seem odd that dozens of people could not re-assemble the broken tile, but, sure, for the story to have a child hero and to be fun we can accept that. I really liked the illustrations... and I think I like the young monk's solution best of all (even though it wasn't acceptable to the warlord). Note the details of the illustrations, especially the celebratory one near the end. I will consider more of the 'series.'

Set in ancient China, Virginia Walton Pilegard brings to life the puzzle of the tangram. After a beautiful tile is dropped and broken into pieces, the Warlord holds a contest. This contest is to see who can put it back together, and whomever does gets to live in the palace. After several people try, creating animals out of pieces instead of the square it once was, a peasant boy has a surprise for the Warlord. The author includes a master copy of the tangram puzzle as well as the animals in the story.

This book encourages students to interact with the story. Each part describes an animal that the students can make with their own tangram seta. This fun and interactive book is a good way to keep students working with shapes.

Realistic show more Fiction
Reading Level: 4.5 show less

Review: "The Warlord's Puzzle" is a story about a very proud Chinese warlord who wants to punish one of his artists from dropping and breaking the most beautiful tile in the land. Instead of punishing the artist however, he suggests to hold a contest to see if anyone can mend it. After many failed attempts, a young peasant boy figures out the puzzle and is given riches and a place in the king's palace. The tile is in the shape of a Tangram.

Genre: Legend

Genre Critique: I categorized this story as a legend because it seems to be a popular Chinese story, but is not necessarily historically authentic. It encompasses important aspects of Chinese culture and is a story that could be retold slightly differently over time.

Character Critique: show more The Warlord is the protagonist in this story and is hard to predict because he has a kind side that the reader does not initially see. Throughout the story is character is proven to be very dynamic as he is always on the edge of being furious with his pupil's, but by the conclusion we see that he is kind-hearted and true to his word. show less

It is really a good history book for it introduces how tangram, a traditional toy in China, came from in a fun tone. It shows a story with colorful pictures. Characters in the book have their own uniqueness by their dressing and facial expressions. The design of words and pictures is also attractive.

Genre: Folktale
Age appropriateness:6 - 9 years,1 - 3 grade
Review:This tale is of the origin of the Chinese and it serves as excellent story to introduce geometry to kids. When an artist pay tribute to the warlord with an rare blue jade, he accidentally break it into seven pieces and never put it back. The warlord got angry and intend to give him server punishment.The artist protect himself by persuading the warlord to let him find someone who can fix the puzzle.The warlord agreed and promise the people who can solve the puzzle of the tile will be given a great treasure and brought to live in palace. Months later, people has been lineing up to the palace but no one fix the problem. In the end, a little boy play with those tiles and show more finished the puzzle and put them back. He is the son of a fisherman and solved the problem with his imagination and experience of fishing.
This is an folktales because it has common feature such as peasants, and commonplace events.Also, the story, overall, sound logical - even realistic. It also seek to explain mathematic problem about life and nature. show less

This is a really cute book about tannegrams. It would be great for a math lesson. It is also a fun book to read. It is multicultural beause it deals with people of Asian descent.

Summary: This book is about the creation of the tangram. An artist brings a lovely tile to the king, but breaks it, and they hold a contest to see who in the land can put it back together. This story comes from a Chinese legend, and is a very interesting and fun tale with beautiful illustrations.