Cao Chong pesa un elefante [Cao Chong Weighs an Elephant] (Spanish Edition)

by Songju Ma Daemicke, Christina Wald (Illustrator)

Cao Chong Weighs an Elephant

Genres: Picture Books, Mathematics, Science, History, China, Animals, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

Published September 10, 2017

Reviews

[Vera Godley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This joyfully illustrated picture book transports young readers to the year 200 C.E. (or A.D.) into Ancient China and amongst royals as is indicated by crowns and clothing.

The occasion is the presentation of an elephant - the first elephant to ever be seen in their country. Excitement runs high and soon discussion of the huge animal's weight ensues. So they must devise a method to determine its weight.

Cao Chong is a child prodigy recognized in Chinese History and he has a plan. It stumps and amazes the others that this child can know how to accomplish the task.

Arbordale publishes books for children that are school age and their books are attractive and entertaining. However, the main feature, in my opinion, is the capability they have of providing materials at the back of the book that take the reader beyond the limits of the story and engages his or her mind with activities in ways that demonstrate the science or math behind the actual story and even presents new ideas for their perusal.

The back pages for Creative Minds in this book include information about ancient China and modern China even providing maps that show city locations and China's borders for reader comparison. The principal of buoyancy and displacement is presented in understandable and demonstrable methods in the Creative Minds activities.

I highly recommend this book as a fun, entertaining, and highly educational book. Click here to see the Teaching Activities on the Arbordale website.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy from Arbordale Publishing to facilitate this review of my own opinions which are freely given.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on true events, Cao Chong Weighs an Elephant, tells the story of six-year-old Cao Chong, who helped a group of Chinese governmental ministers figure out how to weigh an elephant without putting it on a scale. It's delightful to see a child outsmarting the adults. This is a fun book to use in STEM lessons on buoyancy and problem solving. The publisher provides additional information at the end of the book that would be perfect for using in such a lesson. This information includes a short biography of Cao Chong, a buoyancy experiment, and a geography activity. All these activities can be found on the publisher's website. The only thing missing is a works cited page with references.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this delightful children's picture book book about a famous Chinese child prodigy to be exceptionally fun and clever. Its well written, nicely paced and the very colorful and interesting illustrations are all excellent. I feel this book will both entertain and inspire many young readers to be extra creative when confronted with a problem and perhaps solve it by thinking outside of the box. The book also has a great section following the story with scientific experiments and games. Highly recommended.

[S.K. Wenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful story rooted in a fascinating piece of Chinese history shows the story of how a young boy figured out how to weigh an elephant when traditional scales were too small and wouldn't work. Scientific and mathematical concepts are embedded effortlessly in a way that will be accessible for both younger and older readers alike. As a teacher who has taught buoyancy in her classes using toy boats and brass weights in a similar fashion, this boat is wonderful in showing a tough concept in an easy way.

[Natalia Paruzel-Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cao Chong Weights an Elephant is a wonderfully educational and clever picture book about a child prodigy in ancient China. Cao Chong's curiosity, and problem solving skills lead him to solve a conundrum about an elephant's true weight. In addition to be enriching, the story itself is written with vocabulary-building language.

The activities and info included following the story, provide readers with both history and geography-related facts and insights. A terrific addition to your child's library!

[Fernanda Otero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo leí como parte del stay home reading rush, necesitaba un libro que tuviera una casa en la portada y también cumplió con leerlo en un mismo lugar 😌

Me pareció lindo, en mi cultura no son populares los cientos asiáticos así que claramente pude ver el contraste de culturas aunque fuera tan cortito. Se sentirá mucho en la inteligencia y el honor peor me gusta que El Niño fuese el que pensara en la solución al problema planteando.

[Jessica Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 7-year-old daughter grabbed and read this book before I had the chance to read it to her. The next night she offered to read it to me and her little brother at bedtime. We all loved it. It’s a story, set in China, of a clever young child who figures out how to weigh an elephant in the absence of a scale large enough to weigh that size animal. The illustrations are gorgeous and we will be reading this again and again!

[Mariah Aivazis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cao Chong Weighs an Elephant is a great story for children to read. It is about a six year old who faces the problem of weighing an elephant. This book teaches them how important it is to use their imaginations to come up with creative ideas. The illustrations are also beautiful and I think children will love this story.

[TGReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, thought-provoking story about a brilliant child. Great Creative Minds section at the back of the book! Definitely recommend.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

When his father, the emperor, receives the gift of an elephant, young Cao Chong is just as intrigued by the animal as the rest of the onlookers in his father's court and their guests. Fascinated by how the creature eats and its enormous size, some of the advisors begin to make wagers about its weight. But how is it possible to weigh the elephant. After hearing several suggestions, some of which are absurd and cruel, the boy comes up with a clever solution that demonstrates his understanding of buoyancy. There are activities and questions to extend readers' enjoyment of the book and its educational possibilities in the back matter. Youngsters will be delighted that a six-year-old managed to outsmart so many adults as he come up with the best solution to the problem. This title has many uses, including for science and social studies lessons.

[Mandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cao Cao, the Prime Minister of Han, has received a very large gift from the Emperor of Wu Kingdom. He has been presented with an elephant! When the spectators start guessing the weight of the animal and making bets, the advisors try to devise a way to weigh the beast. Lots of suggestions are made, but no solutions are found until six-year-old Cao Chong, song of the Prime Minister, shares his idea.

A great story about how sometimes the youngest minds can come up with the best ideas. The pictures are great, and there is a small study guide in the back with historical and geographical information as well as information on how scales work and the science of buoyancy. Would be a great introduction to a STEAM project.

[Tiffany Brown]

This book is another example of cross subject reading. The idea of weighing an elephant is a mathematical concept. The prime minister and the child working to find the weigh without a scale is problem solving. The elephant being in the story and all that happens is a science concept. The story was clever. The colors were not to over powering. It may have taken away from the story if it was. This is very different compared to other picture books. There are very real events that happened through out the story. This is also good to take a glimpse into ancient customs. Young children can learn a lot from this story. This is great to use in academics in school as well.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cao Chong Weighs an Elephant was such a clever book, and never would have related it to science until reading this book. The you son of the Emperor was very smart of how he came up with his idea to weigh the elephant. When he asked the crowd how they should weigh the elephant many of the answers that came from the crowd were very crazy answers and killing the elephant would have been a terrible thing to do. This book was a great book to read, and also had great illustrations in this book! This book might get children interested in science projects!

[Celeste Bittner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great story that teaches a lot about a culture that may be unfamiliar to children. This book would be great to use when introducing weight and other measurements to students. I was not as into the book as I thought it was. Nonfiction books are something that I have a hard time reading, but it was interesting and full of academic language and continues to teach children about a culture from a long time ago. I thought it would be a great book to introduce topics to the students and have them brainstorm ways they could weigh the elephant.

[Kathleen Gauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating, beautifully illustrated story about a curious boy named Cao Chong who lived 2,000 years ago in ancient China. One day, he is excited to see a gigantic elephant for the first time and observes that an elephant’s nose works like an arm and a hand. When spectators start guessing how much the elephant weighs, Cao comes up with a clever way to figure out the answer. A section at the back of the book titled “For Creative Minds” explains the use of a scale to weigh things and the principle of buoyancy. An educational and entertaining book for young questioning minds!

[Jolene Gutiérrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book focuses on Cao Chong and how he solved the mystery of weighing an elephant. It's a great book to model problem-solving. When many of the brilliant minds in China can't come up with a way to weigh the elephant, Chong has an idea! His brilliant solution has to do with water displacement, and rich backmatter offers readers their own hands-on experiment, more information about buoyancy and scales, and information about history and geography, including information about the real Cao Chong. Highly recommended for homes, schools, and libraries!

[Jill S · Rating 5 out of 5]

CAO CHONG WEIGHS AN ELEPHANT is a beautiful story that promotes scientific inquiry and understanding in young readers. Cao Chong was a brilliant child who answered a scientific question before adults discovered an answer. I think kids will find this story inspiring! In addition to STEM educational connections, this book can encourage readers to learn more about Chinese history and geography. The back matter includes further exploration. A lovely book to add to your school and home libraries.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that it was pretty good, but it was interesting enough to grab my attention. I thought it had a strange twist saying that a child would solve a problem that adults couldn't even solve! I liked the idea of putting the elephant in a boat, and weighing it that way. It was the perfect example of problem solving. The story was good, but only a little amazing, and it wasn't bad. That's why I rated it three stars

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readers will be challenged to transport themselves back to a time when an elephant was a true novelty, and how to weigh it would be beyond imagination. But they'll be inspired by one little boy thinks outside the box to come up with a solution.
Full color illustrations show the many facial expressions.

[Randi Triantafillou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this story because I felt it had a funniness to it and also I liked how it incorporated culture. Although the humor and culture added to the story, I felt more information could of been provided with in the text. This story needed to be more informative for children. Overall I felt this was a fair story and rated it a 3 out of 5. By: Randi Triantafillou

[Gina Soldano · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was so fun to read with my 5 year old! He loved the idea of weighing the elephant and was shouting his reactions along with the book as events unfolded. It also gave us a lot to think about with how they did the weighing including all the top notch back matter about the science behind it! Highly recommend!

[Gail Zachariah]

2,000 years ago in China, a curious boy named Cao Chong solves the problem of how to weigh and elephant when the prime minister's most trusted and knowledgeable advisors are stumped.
Problem Solving, Weight, Balance,

[Andréa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.