Sir Cumference and all the King's Tens

Sir Cumference and his wife, Lady Di, are back in another math adventure. As the hosts of a surprise birthday party for King Arthur, the couple needs to organize a growing number of guests for events to run smoothly. After several fumbling attempts to count the crowd, Sir Cumference realizes that the simplest way to figure out the total is to group the guests into tens, hundreds, and ultimately thousands. This system allows the royal celebration to take place without a hitch, resulting in a happy ending for all. Children will enjoy the lesson built into this tale and identify with the birthday-party theme. While the story can be enjoyed independently, most youngsters would benefit from sharing the book with an adult to fully understand the place value system. The math concept is explained in more detail in an author’s note. The painterly acrylic illustrations convey the action with humorous exaggeration and amusing details (the depiction of a farmer and his wife is reminiscent of Grand Wood’s American Gothic). Libraries in which this series is popular will want to consider purchasing this title. ~ School Library Journal


Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens is a Math Adventure book for elementary age children that uses the king's surprise birthday celebration for a chance to learn to count by tens. Surprise party guest attendance must be counted quickly because Lady Di and Sir Cumference, the host and hostess for the birthday party, need to know how many guests to feed for lunch and dinner. In a comical series of preparation adventures, Sir Cumference and Lady Di count guests by tens, hundreds, and even thousands, using a system known as "place value" for their numbers. How many guests attend in total, and does the gloomy king finally smile and enjoy his birthday party? Inquisitive budding math minds will want to know, so pages will painlessly turn and numbers will effortlessly be learned in Sir Cumference and All the King's Men, a math masterpiece! ~ The Midwest Book Review

Continuing the adventure of Sir Cumference and the Lady Di Ameter with a place-value focus, this tells the story of guests arriving for a surprise birthday party for the king. When large numbers of people start to appear, so does the problem of getting an accurate count for lunch and dinner accommodations. Several methods are explored before the idea of creating groups of tens, hundreds, and then thousands are introduced to garner and accurate count.

The book also includes the idea of writing large numbers in expanded notation. This book is engaging and an excellent way to incorporate literacy and mathematics. The biggest strength of this book is its introduction of counting and the importance of having an organized system for counting. Used in tandem with the other books in the series, students are introduced to different math topics with a familiar cast of characters. After the story, an additional page makes more connections between the story and place value, with suggestions of ways students can use the imagery in the book to help understand the value of a big number the next time they see one.

I recommend this book, as well as other in the series, to teachers looking for an engaging way to incorporate math and literacy into their classroom. ~ National Council of Teachers of Mathematics