Math by All Means, Geometry, Grade 2: a Cloak for the Dreamer

In an entertaining introduction to the concept of geometry, a tailor's son attempts to create a cloak with only circles, with unfortunate results, and then works with his brothers to find a shape that works.

Kindergarten-Grade 3?Books written for a particular purpose are never quite as good as stories that stand on their own, and this one is no exception. Misha, the son of a tailor, doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps as his brothers do, but would rather travel the world. When the tailor tells each of his sons to make a cloak for the archduke to test their skills, two of them make patchworks of squares, triangles, and rectangles. Misha, inspired by the maps he pores over, cuts circles, but they don't fit together, leaving spaces between the pieces of fabric. Seeing the garment, the tailor realizes he must let his son follow his dream. Misha's father and brothers fix the coat by cutting the circles into hexagons and give it to him as a parting gift. An afterword explains about angles, degrees, and shapes. Illustrations set the tale in a busy Eastern European town. Tertiary colors in watercolor and pen and ink are busy and sketchy, picturing the cluttered interior of the tailor's shop. A title for those interested in math, or for kids who like a story to solve.?Sally Bates Goodroe, Houston Public Library
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

While teaching a little elementary geometry, this title in the Marilyn Burns Brainy Day series also offers a lesson about fitting square pegs in round holes. Ivan and Alex want to be tailors like their father, but youngest brother Misha dreams of travel. When each son must fashion a cloak for the archduke, Ivan sews one using rectangles of fabric. Alex makes a cloak of squares and an extra cloak of triangles. But Misha's disastrous cloak of circles demonstrates the geometrical concept that shapes must have angles to fit together. Seeing that Misha's heart lies elsewhere, the tailor frees his son to travel the world. As a farewell gift, the tailor presents Misha with the fateful cloak, whose circles he has snipped into snug-fitting hexagons and then restitched. Friedman's story provides an agreeable front for the lesson, and capable watercolors lend a pleasing old-world ambiance. Three pages of clearly written instruction and teaching tips follow the story. Ages 6-9.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 3-5, younger for reading aloud. Instead of being sent out in ragged clothes to find the princess of his dreams, young Misha is given a kindly send-off by his father and brothers, wrapped in a cloak they have fashioned from one Misha himself tried to make from circular pieces of cloth. Emotion and mathematics are both at work in this Marilyn Burns Brainy Day Book that is suited to an older audience than Burns' The Greedy Triangle, reviewed on p.1008. Appended to the tale are three pages, intended for adult readers, that explain the geometric facts at issue and suggest activities for children. The gentle pastels of Howard's watercolors make clear that Misha's world is not an oppressive one. There are no villains there--only people who understand shapes and people who don't. This will be a reassuring story for the latter variety. Mary Harris Veeder