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Sir Cumference #8
Sir Cumference and the Off-the-Charts Dessert
The eighth book in the popular Sir Cumference series, SIR CUMFERENCE AND THE OFF-THE-CHARTS DESSERT introduces readers to different methods of collecting data.
Sir Cumference and Lady Di of Ameter are in a pickle. The castle cook is sick and the Harvest Faire is coming up—who will make the special dessert for this annual event? Two bakers in town, Pia of Chartres and Bart Graf, are up to the task. But after sampling Pia’s delicious pies and Bart’s scrumptious cookies, Sir Cumference and Lady Di just can’t choose! They come up with a hold a contest and let the townspeople choose the dessert to be served at the faire.
When Pia and Bart’s methods of tracking their votes fail, they each realize they need to come up with a better system. Pia places a colored candy around the edges of a pie dough and Bart stacks his cookie molds—each color candy or mold shape represents a different kind of pie or cookie. Thus, the pie chart and bar graph are born! But when the contest ends in a tie, Pia and Bart concoct a hybrid recipe that everyone enjoys.
Sir Cumference and Lady Di of Ameter are in a pickle. The castle cook is sick and the Harvest Faire is coming up—who will make the special dessert for this annual event? Two bakers in town, Pia of Chartres and Bart Graf, are up to the task. But after sampling Pia’s delicious pies and Bart’s scrumptious cookies, Sir Cumference and Lady Di just can’t choose! They come up with a hold a contest and let the townspeople choose the dessert to be served at the faire.
When Pia and Bart’s methods of tracking their votes fail, they each realize they need to come up with a better system. Pia places a colored candy around the edges of a pie dough and Bart stacks his cookie molds—each color candy or mold shape represents a different kind of pie or cookie. Thus, the pie chart and bar graph are born! But when the contest ends in a tie, Pia and Bart concoct a hybrid recipe that everyone enjoys.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
2 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
About the author
Cindy Neuschwander
31 books55 followersCindy Neuschwander is a native Californian, born in San Diego, CA. Her father was a naval officer and later a high school teacher and her mother was a homemaker. She has one younger brother.
Cindy graduated with a BA in International Studies from Willamette University and earned an MA from Stanford University. She has taught all grades in elementary school as well as high school.
Cindy began writing books in 1994. She had used math literature with her own classes in the early 1990’s and liked the way students responded to it. She wanted to use more of these books but found there were not many available so she started writing some of her own. Her books are published by Charlesbridge, Henry Holt, and Scholastic. She usually writes one book a year.
When she is not teaching or writing, Cindy enjoys spending time with her family. She has been married to her husband, Bruce, for over 30 years. Their older son, Tim, is a medical doctor working in orthopedic research. Their younger son, Seth, is a college student training to become a firefighter. Cindy and Bruce own three dogs; two Dalmatians and a Gordon Setter. Cindy loves to travel, bike ride, and swim. She and her family are Christians who are active in their local church.
Cindy graduated with a BA in International Studies from Willamette University and earned an MA from Stanford University. She has taught all grades in elementary school as well as high school.
Cindy began writing books in 1994. She had used math literature with her own classes in the early 1990’s and liked the way students responded to it. She wanted to use more of these books but found there were not many available so she started writing some of her own. Her books are published by Charlesbridge, Henry Holt, and Scholastic. She usually writes one book a year.
When she is not teaching or writing, Cindy enjoys spending time with her family. She has been married to her husband, Bruce, for over 30 years. Their older son, Tim, is a medical doctor working in orthopedic research. Their younger son, Seth, is a college student training to become a firefighter. Cindy and Bruce own three dogs; two Dalmatians and a Gordon Setter. Cindy loves to travel, bike ride, and swim. She and her family are Christians who are active in their local church.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
April 5, 2025
Another great Sir Cumference book!
Ages: 6 - 12
Content Considerations: nothing to note.
Ages: 6 - 12
Content Considerations: nothing to note.
August 20, 2013
This humorous story offers one explanation for the origin or pie charts and bar graphs. Two talented bakers compete for the honor of preparing the Harvest Sweet. In order to determine the popular favorites, both keep tallies, one in flour and one with pinches of dough. But their records are ruined by their animals. They come up with stacking cookie molds and candies arranged by color to record the results. The story will hold readers' attention while the acrylic paint illustrations fit the story well. The relish with which the townsfolk and the animals savor the desserts is palpable. This is a sweet math adventure.
July 26, 2017
Good for some library collaboration with emerging math learners.
May 12, 2018
What a fun way to introduce our charts and bar graphs!
November 27, 2018
This is a funny book about two Bakers who compete for the job at the castle. They end up working together and prove two bakers are better than one.
June 4, 2019
Cute book explaining pie charts and bar graphs all with the delightful word play of Sir Cumference’s world.
Also it made me hungry for pie and ginger cookies.
Not a bad ending for a math book.
Also it made me hungry for pie and ginger cookies.
Not a bad ending for a math book.
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June 26, 2019Fictional Story
Statistics - graphs
Statistics - graphs
September 12, 2019
A fun and easy explanation for pie and bar chart graphs.
August 19, 2020
We love the Sir Cumference books, such witty and educational books about math!
August 23, 2020
These books are so fun and make remembering math terms fun!
July 23, 2021
PIE CHART - BAR GRAPH
Telling why and how bar chart and pie graph create.
Good story to understand and remember with well illustrated drawing.
Thank Cindy Neuschwander.
Telling why and how bar chart and pie graph create.
Good story to understand and remember with well illustrated drawing.
Thank Cindy Neuschwander.
November 29, 2021
Loved this book! It was fun to read, because I recognized the names of math concepts in the story. It would be fun to read to kids after a math lesson, but confusing before.
January 3, 2022
Entertaining
December 8, 2019
Cute funny story and working together. Would be good for a math lesson on pie charts and graphs.
September 13, 2015
Review: This book demonstrates many ways to keep track of numbers and is a great introduction to charts and graphs. It also encourages working together.
Setting: Sir Cumference and Lady Di's kingdom
Award(s): none
Use in classroom: "MGSE2.MD.10 Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with
up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in a bar graph.
MGSE2.G.3 Partition circles and rectangles into two, three, or four equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, thirds, half of, a third of, etc., and describe the whole as two halves, three thirds, four fourths. Recognize that equal shares of identical wholes need not have the same shape." I would use this book in small group reading center. Students will read the book aloud, with my guidance, by taking turns. We will then have a short discussion on pie charts and bar graphs. Students will be given several example problems where they will have to create a pie chart and/or a bar graph. Once students have mastered the concept in centers, as a class we will do an art project on construction paper where students will choose chart or graph and create one to hang in the hallway. This lesson will span one to two weeks.
Setting: Sir Cumference and Lady Di's kingdom
Award(s): none
Use in classroom: "MGSE2.MD.10 Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with
up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in a bar graph.
MGSE2.G.3 Partition circles and rectangles into two, three, or four equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, thirds, half of, a third of, etc., and describe the whole as two halves, three thirds, four fourths. Recognize that equal shares of identical wholes need not have the same shape." I would use this book in small group reading center. Students will read the book aloud, with my guidance, by taking turns. We will then have a short discussion on pie charts and bar graphs. Students will be given several example problems where they will have to create a pie chart and/or a bar graph. Once students have mastered the concept in centers, as a class we will do an art project on construction paper where students will choose chart or graph and create one to hang in the hallway. This lesson will span one to two weeks.
December 31, 2017
We first discovered these books about Sir Cumference on the "Tumblebooks" online audiobook site (http://www.tumblebooks.com), which is available for free as one of the online resources from our local library.
Our girls really enjoyed watching them read aloud and I think the math concepts are fairly easy to understand, even for children in grades K-2. Because the story itself is fun, it makes the educational focus of the book less apparent and more appealing.
We found that new stories had been published recently in this series and we were delighted to find them at our local library. Our girls really like these tales and I think the visual depictions of the people will help children understand the concept of making bar and pie charts.
Overall, this was an entertaining story to read aloud and we enjoyed reading it together. We've read it a couple of times.
Our girls really enjoyed watching them read aloud and I think the math concepts are fairly easy to understand, even for children in grades K-2. Because the story itself is fun, it makes the educational focus of the book less apparent and more appealing.
We found that new stories had been published recently in this series and we were delighted to find them at our local library. Our girls really like these tales and I think the visual depictions of the people will help children understand the concept of making bar and pie charts.
Overall, this was an entertaining story to read aloud and we enjoyed reading it together. We've read it a couple of times.
July 13, 2018
A cute story about the origin of pie charts and bar graphs, but it's also not a good example because the two bakers were supposed to be compared to each other, but each did individual graphs.
Plus, pie charts really should be used for showing percent of whole, something that's totally irrelevant here (especially the way it was displayed) and is totally ignored in the text. Because the pie chart is just used for part of the data (the pie votes), it doesn't really show its value.
So, I think this book doesn't do a good job of teaching students how to make good choices of how to represent data so that others can easily interpret it. And, without that, what's the point of graphs?
Plus, pie charts really should be used for showing percent of whole, something that's totally irrelevant here (especially the way it was displayed) and is totally ignored in the text. Because the pie chart is just used for part of the data (the pie votes), it doesn't really show its value.
So, I think this book doesn't do a good job of teaching students how to make good choices of how to represent data so that others can easily interpret it. And, without that, what's the point of graphs?
April 6, 2016
Core Curricular tie that can be made with this text: Math
Detailed Explanation of how this text can be used to support instruction in the core curricular area: This book, and the others in the series, would be used when introducing new concepts to students, in this case charts and graphs. The nature of the picture book can help students with math problems better understand a what can sometimes be a fairly obtuse concept and show real world uses for many math problems.
Rationale for choosing this particular text over another text on the same topic: This entire series of books weave math terms and concepts into child friendly narratives.
Detailed Explanation of how this text can be used to support instruction in the core curricular area: This book, and the others in the series, would be used when introducing new concepts to students, in this case charts and graphs. The nature of the picture book can help students with math problems better understand a what can sometimes be a fairly obtuse concept and show real world uses for many math problems.
Rationale for choosing this particular text over another text on the same topic: This entire series of books weave math terms and concepts into child friendly narratives.
September 3, 2021
This is a series of different books that tie into math concepts. The characters are named after different math concepts which is a great way to introduce new vocabulary. It is a wonderful example of how to integrate ELA and math.
These stories could be a great introduction to a math lesson. They could be used to introduce a concept or review something that is being studied.
This book addresses different kinds of charts, in this case to keep track of different desserts. They use markers as well as pie graphs and bar graphs.
In class you could do charts about anything including desserts.
Grades: any covering the skills addressed!
These stories could be a great introduction to a math lesson. They could be used to introduce a concept or review something that is being studied.
This book addresses different kinds of charts, in this case to keep track of different desserts. They use markers as well as pie graphs and bar graphs.
In class you could do charts about anything including desserts.
Grades: any covering the skills addressed!
April 11, 2016
This one introduces pie charts and bar graphs. The schtick in this on is that Pia's use of counting around a pie crust and then scoring the pie is named a pie chart, after it being created on a pie and her hometown of Chartres, France. Bart Graf's stack of cookie molds creates a "Bart Graf," which we call today, "Bar Graphs." Same cute storytelling, same catchy ways to present the information and help kids process and remember. This is an excellent series.
April 25, 2016
Fun medieval tale about Pia of Chartes and Bart Graf who are in a baking contest for the King and Queen to see which dessert should be the favorite for a special festival. End results of the contest both give us names of two types of math charts and the story of two bakers working together to overcome a tie.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2015
I liked the introduction to charts/graphs. Again, I really like the Sir Cumference stories. Sometimes though, they (including this one) go on a little bit longer, a little bit wordier than need be. Overall, this would be another good classroom addition.
September 13, 2013
Latest in there series of sir cumference. I love math story books.
November 1, 2013
Mom: I love how punny these books are. This one imagines in a silly way how pie charts (Pie chartres) and bar graphs (bart graf) came to be. Cute.
September 11, 2016
Another great Sir Cumference book. This one is very simple and easy to understand.
June 10, 2014
An entertaining math story about pie charts and bar graphs.
July 7, 2016
Teaching Resource: Narrative Structure, Math - charts/graphs, Vocabulary - narrative (element examples), math (concept development)
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews