Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes

MathStart Level 2

by Stuart J. Murphy

Flying saucers! Meteor showers! Poison gas! Watch out, Captain Invincible! Side by side with his loyal space-dog, Comet, the fearless captain battles his way through outer space, relying on his knowledge of three-dimensional shapes, including cones, cubes, cylinders, and spheres, to make it safely back to Earth.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction, Space, School, 1st Grade

Paperback

First published August 21, 2001

About the author

PICTURES & WORDS, STORIES & BOOKS
MathStart http://www.mathstart.net
I See I Learn http://www.iseeilearn.com

I was one of those kids who talked all the time in class. I loved telling stories. One day in the 4th Grade, my teacher said, “You tell such good stories, maybe you should try writing some of them down.” “Wow,” I thought. “She thinks my stories are good.” That’s when I started to really enjoy writing.

I was also the class artist. When I wasn’t talking,I was drawing. When I was older, I studied art at the Rhode Island School
of Design. That’s where I became interested in visual learning—how we decode and acquire information from graphs, charts, diagrams, models, illustrations and other images.

I became especially interested in educational publishing and have worked on the development of over a dozen major textbook programs, championing visual learning strategies from Pre-K through high school in every major curriculum area.

MATHSTART

The inspiration to write math stories for children was sparked by my work on a high school mathematics program. Visual learning strategies helped teens—who had been characterized as “reluctant learners’—understand difficult math concepts. Putting math in the context of stories based on their experiences made them feel more comfortable with abstract concepts. They actually became eager to apply math to real-life problems.
If this approach worked for older students, I began to wonder what might happen if younger children were introduced to math this way!

Even before children can read—or speak many words—they can interpret visual information with ease. The MathStart books use simple stories coupled with diagrams, graphs and other visual models to teach everything from probability and pattern recognition to area, capacity and negative numbers.

The Best Bug Parade, (comparing sizes) was my very first published book. It was absolutely thrilling to see my name in print! I never expected that one day there would 63 MathStart books, split over three levels for ages Pre-K to Grade 4.

Each book includes two pages of review and activities designed to help teachers and parents extend learning beyond the story, along with suggestions of related books by other authors. After all, if a child enjoys learning math through stories, then let’s have more stories!
(Pictures, Words & Math: An interview with Stuart J. Murphy )

THE MAIN STREET KIDS' CLUB: A MATHSTART MUSICAL

Now get out your dancing shoes—there is a musical based on six of the MathStart books! The Main Street Kids’ Club was workshopped at Northwestern University and adapted by Scott Ferguson, who also created the perennially popular production of Schoolhouse Rock Live!
The songs are terrific. The math is spot on. And the club motto makes my heart sing: “Math Skills are Life Skills!”

STUART J. MURPHY'S I SEE I LEARN

My latest series of books is focused on young children—Preschool and Kindergarten age.
I See I Learn books teach social, emotional, health and safety, and cognitive skills, such as how to make friends, build confidence, play safely, work together, manage emotions, and make plans. These skills are important for school readiness and for living happy, healthy, productive lives.

The stories “star” a wonderful bunch of friends who live in See-and-Learn City and attend Ready Set Pre-K. The cast includes Freda, Percy, Emma, Ajay, Camille, and Carlos. And, of course, Pickle, the green bull dog—who happens to have a soft-spot for butterflies—and Miss Cathy, their teacher.

I See I Learn stories are modeled on real-life situations and, just as in real-life, often involve more than one skill. For example, Freda Plans a Picnic is about sequencing, a cognitive skill, but the picnic itself is a social event. Percy Plays It Safe focuses on playground safety skills, but playing successfully in a group also requires self-regulation, an emotional skill.

Each book is reviewed by a tea

Reviews

[Taylor Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: This book is about Captain Invincible and his space dog – Comet who have a big imagination and are on their way back to earth. Throughout their mission, they come across different 3D and 2D space shapes to help them with their journey and along the way encounter asteroids, poisonous gas, and aliens.

Mentor Writing trait: This book does a great job of sentence fluency. The way the words flow throughout the story and the transitions are right on point too.
Another writing trait is the presentation The book is laid about almost like comic book style. The words the characters are saying are in bubbles so its unique and an interesting read even if its about math.

Classroom integration: This book would be a great book to introduce in a math unit. This book talks about 3D and 2D shapes and it is a fun read. This would be great to introduce before a lesson by reading it and then talking about the shapes you see inside the book. This would be for a younger elementary grade.

Reading level: 2.2

[Lydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Captain Invincible (self titled) and his dog Comet are attempting a safe space journey home, but must use different shapes to help them make it safely.

Though it contains useful information about each of the shapes, it really didn't feel like the shapes were necessary. For instance, almost any of the shapes could have been used for any of the purposes (or different shapes entirely could have been used), so it just felt like they were "forced" into the story.

No content issues.

[Arianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so engaging and fun to read. It is great for introducing 3-D shapes. In the story, Captain Invincible and his space dog Comet are trying to get back to Earth. In their mission back home, they run into some obstacles like asteroids, poisonous gas, and flying saucers. They use their knowledge of 3-D shapes like cones, cubes, and pyramids to help them in these obstacles and get back home safely.

[Bee Mycoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is engaging and fun. It talks about the different shapes and it a good introduction to 3-d shapes. It gives lot of descriptions of the different shapes which will be a good way for students to get to know them in a fun way.

[Courtney Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book for teaching 3D shapes!

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Illustrations were cute. Won't work for storytime.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and relevant

[Fallon Rhodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept my son engaged in part of unit on shapes.

[Fallon Rhodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept my son engaged as math literature in unit on shapes.

[Igor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice drawing. My son enjoyed, despite have not learned the 3d shapes. At least not yet.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes by Stuart Murphy is a great science fiction/fantasy book for children. This is a story about Sam, also known as Captain Invincible, and his space dog Comet navigating through the universe. I enjoyed the text and illustrations, but most of all I liked how three-dimensional shapes were included in this story. Shapes such as a cube, pyramid, cylinder, cone, sphere, and rectangular prism are included, where they must push the correct shape in order to land safety in Sam's bedroom. Recognizing and being able to classify three-dimensional shapes can be a difficult concept for children to grasp, and I think that this is a great story to help! Students can really get engaged in this story because it does a fantastic job of introducing the shapes and comparing them to other real world objects, which makes is a great story in my opinion!

[Carina Windom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really cute and could be a great interdiction to first grade geometry. I would recommend using this one after the basic shapes have already been introduced, however, because some of the shapes are a little advanced. It his could be tied into a lesson because the main character is actually using shapes in his home to create the tools that captain invincible uses on his voyage. A good station idea would be to have students create tools or items for their own space stations or space journey using shapes specified in class or the book. The student should be able to identify the name of the shape and what makes it different from the others.

[Rebecca Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book to read aloud when the students are learning shapes. As I read it I would have the students point and name the various shapes in the book. Then I would have them explore 3D shape blocks and write down or discuss the similarities and differences they see. Another activity would be to have them make their own space ship using the 3D shapes. I would assess their understanding of the shapes by telling them to make a space ship with 5 cubes, 3 triangles, etc. I would look to see if they counted and identified the shapes correctly.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes" is an exciting story that can be used to teach about geometric shapes. The story is about a young boy and his dog using their great imagination to travel far into outer space and save the world from dangerous aliens. The boy and his dog use the super powers of 3D shapes to conquer the villains and make their way back home. I used this book for one of my math lessons and did an activity with students where they got to use toothpicks and marshmallows to create their own 3D shapes.

[Sophia Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book! This book is in the format of a comic. Captain Invincible and his dog Comet are in space trying to get home when a meteor shower arrives. The space saver will help them. but do you know your shapes! They have to press the correct one in order to safely get home. This book goes through and introduces shapes (particularly 3D ones). It also includes great illustrations. I would use this book when introducing 3D shapes. I could also make this into an interactive game and make a prop where students themselves have to press correct shapes along withCaptain Invincible.

[Isabel Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain invincible and the space shapes was a great book. My kindergarten students have a really hard time grasping the concept of three dimensional shapes. This book does an incredible job at not only introducing the shapes, but at comparing them to real world objects while engaging the students. I see this book as a great lesson opener into three dimensional shapes. I will definitively be using this book in my classroom.

[Alexis Levine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes is a super cute book for children 7+. It's a fun book about the characters trying to get out of space and land back in Sams bedroom. However, in order for them to get back they must push the right shapes such as, the cube, pyramid, cylinder, cone, sphere or rectangular prism so they land safely. I would just read this book for pleasure to my class during science either when they are learning about space or different measurements and shapes for math.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really engaging for an introductory lesson on geometry. The space explorer theme is a great way to get the kids engaged in the story while introducing some 3D shapes. I think this would work well as a repeated mini-lesson. The teacher could read this through as a read-aloud on the first day of the lesson while spending more time on the reading the second day trying to get the students to remember the shape names as they read through.

[Linh Tong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a good introduction to teaching 3-D shapes. After we read the book, I would bring in different objects and put them in a bag. I would give them hints about the objects in the bag. They will then guess the objects in the bag and tell me the shape that it shows. For example, I would bring in a tennis ball and say that "this object has no face." I can describe the objects using vocabulary words such as angles, faces, colors, and sizes. Students can also help me describe the objects.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain Invincible and his dog Comet must get back to earth by using the space shapes to get through all the many obstacles. I liked that most of the book is illustrated like a comic book to appeal to students. Students will also enjoy the adventure of traveling through space.
This story can be used to teach the three-dimensional space shapes. It can be used in kindergarten, first, or second grade.

[Armanda Campbell]

This is a great book to use when teaching about three dimensional shapes, such as cube, pyramid, cylinder, cone, sphere, and rectangular prism . The author does a great job of identifying characteristics of the shapes to better help the children identify them. Being able to recognize and identify three dimensional shapes is a common core standard and is sometimes difficult for the children to understand.

[Lauren Owens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun book that also helps with solar system terminology as well as shape names. As he flies through outer space the students can locate the shapes they see on the pages before the teacher reads the names. Also, the students can create their own books that are about shapes in a creative way like this book.
Recommended grade level: P-2

[Brandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is cute and could definitely be used in a classroom during a lesson on 3D shapes. The premise of the story could really get kids engaged and thinking about shapes in a way that is fun. One great thing about this book is that it has tips for adults on the back cover to suggest ways to use the book in a classroom. I think this book could be successful with students 7 and older.

[Irina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book that is set up in a comic book style. It really focuses in on 3-d shapes and their attributes. This book is a very fun book to use after introducing 3-d shapes, because it goes kind of fast. Perfect for ages 6 and up...

[Kasmarine · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great way to learn about three dimensional shapes...it's out of this world.
Our friend and his dog will take our young readers on an imaginary ride to outer space.
They will shoot geometric rockets. The illustrations are well in line with the text. A must have in classroom library.

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son loves space and dogs. This adventure through space uses all kinds of shapes to get them through "the galaxy". Nice interactive book allows for a child to learn shapes in a fun way. Very nicely done and good illustrations. My 3 yr old son loves this book.

[Theresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

a math curriculm add on that talks about shapes and their realtions

[Cya]

Comic style book with 3 dimensional shapes. I would read to my class for intro to 3 dimensional shapes. Also good for a lesson where students can draw a small comic strip of a math concept.

[Alison Tripp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute intro into geometry. This story has a plot and the math is intertwined in a fun manner.

[Gina Starling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grades 1-4 This book introduces 3-D geometric shapes (spheres, cylinders, etc) and launches you into finding similar shapes around the house. Great way to start students on simple geometry,