The Struggle is Real : Finding Love with Pi in the Library

    Today's blog subject can be filed under the category of "Who Knew Math Could Be Fun?"  For many young minds math is tedious, boring and hard.  Tedious for their  bland story problems that pop up  in homework assignments and tests.  Never are these stories interesting, have a plot or have characters that make a reader care about the eighty cantaloupes they are buying.  It is totally boring.  Which equals to a hard to solve problem.   Today is Pie Day or more actually known as Pi day also known as 3.14.   Having started this long introduction for  a simple topic, please accept this heartfelt apology for all the math puns to come. 

    Looking for entertaining books on math is difficult because the first place one might look,  are the math books. Let's face it,  they have enough problems of their own to help with this  search. A quick look into the children's fiction section should prove to be helpful, since math and fun could not possibly qualify as non-fiction.   Surprise, surprise!   There is a book that only an English literature enthusiast could fall madly for, with all of its mathematical roots.   Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi  by Cindy Neuschwander with illustrator,  Wayne Geehan.  Could we find a better book for Pi Day?    This smashing tale is about the adventures of Sir Cumference, his trusty side kick Radius and Lady Di of Ameter.   The poor Knight has been changed into a Fire-breathing dragon and it is up to Radius to figure out the riddle that will reveal the cure.   Once he figures out the magic number for all circles, the riddle will be solved.  Let's circle back to the original premise of this blog.  Can Math be fun?  Entertaining?  Of course it can! Only if  added correctly into the equation. 

    The really good news is that Sir Comference is a series, and the Dragon Pi happens to be the second in the series.   The ten adventures in the series are just as entertaining and can be counted among the best math stories for children.  They were published roughly twenty years ago, which is astonishing because it doesn't seem that long ago that this series first appeared on libraries' shelves.    It goes without saying, that the high praises for this series can go on and on but the point has been made.   If the series can not be found at the local library, they are still available for purchase online  

   Without going off on a tangent,  there is yet another. book that mixes great literature with Pi.   Not possible, you say?  Edgar Allan Poe's Pie is proof that this is possible.  T J. Patrick Lewis reimagined famous poems, such as Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” and Langston Hughes’s “April Rain Song", with a bit of Mathematics.    The poet has found away to create his own equation of adding laughter and learning  with the total sum of clever engagement with both lovers of numbers and words.   Children won't even realize they are learning and parents will be thrilled that math can be explained easily.   It's fun squared!  

    It looks like we are done with the puns, the theme and the books.   In the library, especially with Chidlren, there is always a reason to celebrate the day with reading and learning.   Happy Pi Day!