Roman Numerals I to MM: Liber De Difficillimo Computando Numerum

by Arthur Geisert

With a farm of pigs as his abacus, Arthur Geisert uses elements of a search and count game to bring Roman numerals to life in this unintimidating math-concept book. First, the seven Roman numerals are equated with the correct number of piglets. Then the reader may practice counting other items—hot-air balloons, gopher holes, and more—as the remarkable adventure unfolds. (And yes, there are one thousand pigs in the etching for M!)

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Education

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Arthur Geisert grew up in Los Angeles, California, and claims not to have seen a pig until he was an adult. Trained as a sculptor in college, Geisert learned to etch at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. Geisert has published just about a book a year for the past thirty years. Every one of his books has been illustrated with etchings. His work has appeared in The New Yorker and The Horn Book Magazine. In 2010 his book Ice was selected as a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated book of the year. Geisert currently lives in a converted bank building in Bernard, Iowa.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have loved this when I was a kid. But then, I was kind of a nerd. I probably would already have known what the symbols meant, but if I didn't, I could ask a grown-up or look them up in a reference book, rather than counting 500 or 1000 pigs.

Or, considering that I liked to solve puzzles, I'd have used a strategy: I'd divide the page into several regions that looked like they had about the same number of pigs in each. Then I'd count the pigs in a region, multiply that number of pigs by the number of regions, and round to a number that made sense.

I'm still trying to find Geisert's ABC book, though!

[annie k · Rating 5 out of 5]

After my Younger son completed a lesson on Roman numerals, I found this book at our local library & picked it up thinking he would be better able to 'see' the quantities by matching the numerals with the same number of objects. Especially since his favourite animal (pigs!) was featured. I did not expect such an educational book to be so much fun. My Youngest son (7yo) even picked up the numerals quickly and spurted the answers out faster than his brothers on the last page. I had to hide the numerals from him to give them all a chance! Great book. Highly informative but fun. Very charming illustrations. They'll be double checking the number of pigs tomorrow :)

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is all about roman numerals. The pictures in the book are engaging and require attention to detail in order to understand the concept. While I think this is a great tool for learning at an individual level, I don't think this book would do well as a large group read-aloud in a classroom. If this book were to be used in a classroom, it would probably be more effective as a review of roman numerals instead of an introduction to them. It would also probably be most successful in older grades (4th-5th).

[Andrew Everson]

This book is great for students that are in 3rd-5th, and even above that. Arthur Geisert gave a quirky, goofy way of teaching roman numerals. The book explains how to count, add, subtract, and combining roman numerals. Once a student reads this they will be able to understand how to read roman numerals as well as better their knowledge on counting. I would use this book when first introducing a math concept that requires roman numerals.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roman Numerals

I read this book as a part of my child's Rome history cycle in homeschool. It is filled with many illustrations for counting in Roman Numerals. I have the kindle version and the only issue I had was that you cannot zoom in on the illustration. It is hard to count the pigs when there are 100 + and they are very very small.

[Stella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clever concept...counting objects in pictures to learn the Roman Numerals. Unfortunately, I agree with other reviewers. Almost impossible to use as a read-aloud to an entire classroom, and the child would have to be quite fascinated with the concept to count as high as some of the pictures require. Might lead to frustration with math rather than enthusiasm for math.

[What April's Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute way to learn Roman Numerals, using counting and math. The pictures were fun and engaging.

My only suggestion would have been to include a chart of the numerals and their value for those who are just learning them or aren't familiar with them. I was not going to count 50 pigs, or 100 pigs, when those pages came up. :)

Otherwise, this was a fun book.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

An older book (1996) that teaches Roman numerals, with pigs on a farm! It actually is easy to learn them as one moves through the pages. Geisert's pics are in various places throughout and some pages tell how many "other" things are there, a hunt to see if you can get the number right.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun using Roman Numerals.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

My seven year old had so much fun with this book!

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is pretty interesting. The illustrations are very intricate and my kids really enjoyed looking at what all the pigs were doing. It was informative and fun.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun way to learn Roman numerals!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clever and helpful illustration of Roman numerals. Even my 14yo enjoyed it and was challenged.

[Rodopa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good idea but not executed great as it directs readers to count the items on the page, but it become unmanageable at one point. But overall good intro to roman numerals.

[wildct2003 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent counting book

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The boys giggled and giggled over this book! It was a fun one to read.

[Judy Lindow · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's rare to such beautiful etchings in a contemporary picture book - so enjoy master etcher Arthur Geisert's work! Geisert's intrepid pigs, which I notice seem to be his trademark, can also be seen in books teaching counting and learning the alphabet.

It's mostly utilitarian, as it teaches Roman Numerals, but a picture book can make learning more fun - and what could be more fun than equating the roman numerals to one to 1000s of pigs. The book uses the elements of a search and count game. Very good lead-in to direct instruction and lots of small group practice.

Beware the book depicts pigs on farms, which as many of us know, are violent and exploitive in reality. At the end, to avoid any ill conceived notions that may default to pigs living happily on Old MacDonald's farm, I would briefly summarize current day factory farming and pork exploitation, and clarify that I don't eat animals.

[Timothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is somewhat charming and informative at the same time, where the reader is treated to an "I Spy"-esq visual scavenger hunt with the numerical clues given in roman numberals. While, it might be fun to find the 'V pigs or VIII rocks', I kind of wonder how much help it is for kids to be expected to count up to 50, 100, 500, 1000 pigs just know what L, C, D, or M stands for, since arabic numerals are never used. I know even when I was a kid, I doubt I had that kind of an attention span to patiently count that many pigs, before they give up in frustration.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great way to introduce roman numerals with an I-spy strategy. The students have to count the pig and match them up with the roman numeral. This book is really cute and I'm sure the students will enjoy the book. On some pages the roman numeral is given and you have to find the animal. It's kind of like Where's Waldo.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids were a little too young to be very interested.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite part was searching for hidden things; some of them were tricky to find!

[The Styling Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well done introduction to Roman Numerals. Only complaint, no ending explanation/clarification for pages... but just more of a challenge then!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated book that teaches how to use roman numerals. I like that the author doesn't tell the reader what the symbols mean, but instead requires you to count the objects.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are gearing up to study the Romans this year. Great book to teach Roman numerals to kids (and adults).

[Gemma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illustrations make this fun.