Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone

Sir Cumference is a series of entertaining, clever, and imaginative medieval fantasy tales set in a world full of fun geometry-based names and lands. The reader follows the adventure of each book and discovers new math concepts along with the knights and ladies in the stories - and sometimes dragons. I've always loved a good picture book, and I still do - and these books are a wonderful example of a quality picture book. I've enjoyed Sir Cumference immensely in both childhood and adulthood.

Each book is engaging and well-written, with endearing and clever characters, exciting adventures, and humor throughout. I laugh at the puns and plays on words and at the hilarious situations the characters often go through. I'm amazed at the show more loveliness of the illustrations, which - like the text - are colorful, funny, exciting, and imaginative, as well as beautifully painted on actual canvas, with gorgeous lighting and color.

And the math concepts presented in the text are humourously, clearly, and simply explained, while still retaining complex and sophisticated information of basic geometry and sometimes other areas of math. And in the context of a fun story, they're easy to remember and recall. A very young child can understand the explanation of the basic concept, the full explanation can aid the learning of an older student, and teens and adults can enjoy the clever books just as much.

I'm good at math, but it's never come easily to me, as it does for my siblings. I struggle to learn and understand math concepts when I can't understand the why and how behind them. Even as a teen and adult, and as a child, reading Sir Cumference helped give me that brilliant light-bulb moment of finally understanding why the equation to find the circumference or area of a circle is the way it is, and works the way it does. The books break these concepts down and show them in concrete, tangible ways, rather than only abstract, nebulous numbers and equations. This way, it's easy to understand how the equation works to produce the number, instead of being unreachable and impossible to wrap one's mind around. Weaving the math into the context of an imaginative story with relatable characters also helps so much, because that's how my mind and imagination engage best with information. If I get the chance to follow in my parents' steps and homeschool my own kids someday, or even if I don't, I will definitely be using these books to teach my future children, if I have any.

I first read the Sir Cumference series as an elementary school-aged child, and I've loved them ever since. The stories have always made me laugh and captured my imagination. It's been a few years since I've read them, and upon rereading the series, I'm pleased to find that the books are are just as wonderful and quality now that I'm an adult and a writer. I was also overjoyed to recently discover the existence of more Sir Cumference sequels that I'd wished for for many years.

I grew up with the first four SirSir Cumference books, and they're special to me, but I enjoyed a couple of the new ones just as much. The first four books in the series are best read in order, but some of the later books were not published chronologically, and they can be read in any order after the first book. For instance, The Isle of Immeter can be read in any order after the first two books, but it should be read before The Viking's Map, since it introduces a new female protagonist. My favorite books in the series are definitely the ones featuring Sir Cumference's son Radius as the main character - the ones I grew up on, and also the slightly newer books I read more recently that follow both Radius and his female cousin Per of Immeter.

The Sir Cumference books are full of sweet characters, exciting tales, adventure, entertaining humor, learning, and more. All this is contained in a short picture book - no small feat! I highly recommend the Sir Cumference series to people of all ages who enjoy a clever and fun story, especially to teachers and homeschoolers for teaching math in an entertaining and engaging manner.



show less

King Arthur wants to choose an heir to take over when he can't be the king anymore. Five knights compete for the honor. They must solve a math word problem and find the Sword of Edgecalibur to be the next king. Vertex goes on a quest to find the sword, and mathematical formulas and explanations fill the pages.

This book is so clever and witty! I absolutely loved it. I loved the names of the characters: Vertex, Lady Di of Ameter, Radius, and Sir Cumference. Euler's Law is at the end of the book. I thought the author did a fantastic job of making Geometry fun, humorous, and intriguing. The artwork is also fitting for this time period; it actually made me feel like I was there in the Medieval times. What a great tool for showing that show more learning is fun! show less

Sir Cumference and the sword in the cone is a great book to read aloud with students. Students will be able to get the humor in the names such as Sir Cumference's wife Lady Di Ameter. Although this book in the series is more so for entertainment than real ways of application, its' still one of my favorite mathematical picture books.

This adorable math adventure is an absolutely great way to introduce or expand upon basic three dimensional shapes and other geometric terms. Sir Cumference is on the hunt for a highly coveted sword which is hidden in an unknown location. To find the sword, Sir Cumference must decode the riddle, "Form the solids and find their places. How many edges, points, and faces? The shapes that make two will pass the test, But one that does not must be your quest. Three inside."

This book is definitely intended for older elementary school students, as it requires some background knowledge on shapes, edges, and vertices. But I think it's a really great way to incorporate a mystery story into math because it will keep students interested.

Students show more will learn about various geometric shapes and different geometric terms such as vertex, circumference, and diameter. I would encourage this story to be read during a math lesson. show less

This book follows the journey of a man trying to find the king's sword in order to become the heir to the throne. To find it he must solve the riddle first and learn about Euler's law. I thought it was a neat book that used geometric names in an interesting way.

A great story of friendship, adventure, riddles, and knighthood all wrapped up with the prefix of math.

Same clever humor, but this one didn't seem to teach anything useful for practical application. It showed us that "if you add the number of faces on a geometric solid to the number of its points (vertices) and then subtract the number of its edges, the answer will always be two. It works for any polyhedron..."
Yeah, but who cares?