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Sir Cumference #9
Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle
When Steward Edmund Rounds and Sir Cumference notice that there are strangers camped nearby, Rounds II decides to investigate despite being involved with the task of learning how to make accurate counts of the castle's stores of food, supplies, and weaponry. When he reports back that an enemy is lying in wait, everyone moves quickly to defend the castle. But wait! Will Rounds II be able to figure out how many bows and arrows they have to create an appropriate battle plan? Using rounding techniques to figure out the totals more quickly, Rounds II is just in time to help stave off a potentially disastrous attack.
From the Hardcover edition.
From the Hardcover edition.
32 pages, Paperback
Published August 4, 2015
8 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Cindy Neuschwander
39 books55 followersCindy Neuschwander is a native Californian, born in San Diego, CA. Her father was a naval officer and later a high school teacher and her mother was a homemaker. She has one younger brother.
Cindy graduated with a BA in International Studies from Willamette University and earned an MA from Stanford University. She has taught all grades in elementary school as well as high school.
Cindy began writing books in 1994. She had used math literature with her own classes in the early 1990’s and liked the way students responded to it. She wanted to use more of these books but found there were not many available so she started writing some of her own. Her books are published by Charlesbridge, Henry Holt, and Scholastic. She usually writes one book a year.
When she is not teaching or writing, Cindy enjoys spending time with her family. She has been married to her husband, Bruce, for over 30 years. Their older son, Tim, is a medical doctor working in orthopedic research. Their younger son, Seth, is a college student training to become a firefighter. Cindy and Bruce own three dogs; two Dalmatians and a Gordon Setter. Cindy loves to travel, bike ride, and swim. She and her family are Christians who are active in their local church.
Cindy graduated with a BA in International Studies from Willamette University and earned an MA from Stanford University. She has taught all grades in elementary school as well as high school.
Cindy began writing books in 1994. She had used math literature with her own classes in the early 1990’s and liked the way students responded to it. She wanted to use more of these books but found there were not many available so she started writing some of her own. Her books are published by Charlesbridge, Henry Holt, and Scholastic. She usually writes one book a year.
When she is not teaching or writing, Cindy enjoys spending time with her family. She has been married to her husband, Bruce, for over 30 years. Their older son, Tim, is a medical doctor working in orthopedic research. Their younger son, Seth, is a college student training to become a firefighter. Cindy and Bruce own three dogs; two Dalmatians and a Gordon Setter. Cindy loves to travel, bike ride, and swim. She and her family are Christians who are active in their local church.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
November 5, 2018
The Sir Cumference books are great! Add a little action to your math by learning how to round up in a hurry before the enemies attack.
Ages: 6+
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Ages: 6+
**Like my reviews? I also have hundreds of detailed reports that I offer too. These reports give a complete break-down of everything in the book, so you'll know just how clean it is or isn't. I also have Clean Guides (downloadable PDFs) which enable you to clean up your book before reading it!
Visit my website!
August 21, 2015
Even someone who doesn't love math will enjoy the books featuring Sir Cumference because of the practical ways in which they approach math. In this book, the castle steward has a son who is learning the tricks of the trade for his job. He must count Sir Cumference's food, supplies, and weapons, and teaches his son how to round numbers up or down so that he can come up with a total more quickly than if he has to add up all the numbers. When the boy, called Rounds 2, realizes that the castle faces a siege, he warns his father, and tries to figure out if their men have enough arrows to win the battle. The innovation of using bees to win the day was pretty clever, and the acrylic illustrations are filled with humorous depictions of the characters and the siege.
September 2, 2015
Definitely not my favorite of the Sir Cumference books, but I could still use it in my classroom. Not sure if the kids would get into it, or if they might be confused. There are easier ways to teach rounding. I'd recommend checking out the others in the series.
March 31, 2019
Cute story about rounding in math.
August 23, 2024
These books are as addictive as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Only here we have stealth lessons in rounding numbers . . . teaming up with two cleverly named characters, Steward Edmund Rounds and Sir Cumference.
In this witty tale, Rounds and Cumference notice that there strangers have camped nearby. Not good. Our guys have good reason to learn how to round numbers, that is, learning how to make accurate counts of the castle's stores of food, supplies, and weaponry. Since they're tasked with helping King Arthur prepare for a serious battle.
Will Rounds II be able to figure out how many bows and arrows they'll have available? How about designing the best possible battle plan? Will Rounds 2 manage to help stave off a potentially disastrous attack?
To give you a sense of the flavor of this delightful book, I'm going to quote from Page 28.
A castle guard peered through an arrow slit. "They're busy as bees down there!" he yelled.
"Busy as BEES?" thought Rounds 2. This gave him an idea.
He rushed to the rampart, shook the skeps, and pushed them over the edge of the wall.
What were the warrior's farewell words?
"Bees, go buzz-erk!" he commanded.
In this witty tale, Rounds and Cumference notice that there strangers have camped nearby. Not good. Our guys have good reason to learn how to round numbers, that is, learning how to make accurate counts of the castle's stores of food, supplies, and weaponry. Since they're tasked with helping King Arthur prepare for a serious battle.
Will Rounds II be able to figure out how many bows and arrows they'll have available? How about designing the best possible battle plan? Will Rounds 2 manage to help stave off a potentially disastrous attack?
To give you a sense of the flavor of this delightful book, I'm going to quote from Page 28.
A castle guard peered through an arrow slit. "They're busy as bees down there!" he yelled.
"Busy as BEES?" thought Rounds 2. This gave him an idea.
He rushed to the rampart, shook the skeps, and pushed them over the edge of the wall.
What were the warrior's farewell words?
"Bees, go buzz-erk!" he commanded.
September 19, 2023
Fun story that clearly explains rounding numbers to "friendly" tens.
January 12, 2025
Fun way to learn about addition / rounding. Appropriate for 1st - 3rd graders.
July 13, 2022
Sir Cumference is a series of entertaining, clever, and imaginative medieval fantasy tales set in a world full of fun geometry-based names and lands. The reader follows the adventure of each book and discovers new math concepts along with the knights and ladies in the stories - and sometimes dragons. I've always loved a good picture book, and I still do - and these books are a wonderful example of a quality picture book. I've enjoyed Sir Cumference immensely in both childhood and adulthood.
Each book is engaging and well-written, with endearing and clever characters, exciting adventures, and humor throughout. I laugh at the puns and plays on words and at the hilarious situations the characters often go through. I'm amazed at the loveliness of the illustrations, which - like the text - are colorful, funny, exciting, and imaginative, as well as beautifully painted on actual canvas, with gorgeous lighting and color.
And the math concepts presented in the text are humourously, clearly, and simply explained, while still retaining complex and sophisticated information of basic geometry and sometimes other areas of math. And in the context of a fun story, they're easy to remember and recall. A very young child can understand the explanation of the basic concept, the full explanation can aid the learning of an older student, and teens and adults can enjoy the clever books just as much.
I'm good at math, but it's never come easily to me, as it does for my siblings. I struggle to learn and understand math concepts when I can't understand the why and how behind them. Even as a teen and adult, and as a child, reading Sir Cumference helped give me that brilliant light-bulb moment of finally understanding why the equation to find the circumference or area of a circle is the way it is, and works the way it does. The books break these concepts down and show them in concrete, tangible ways, rather than only abstract, nebulous numbers and equations. This way, it's easy to understand how the equation works to produce the number, instead of being unreachable and impossible to wrap one's mind around. Weaving the math into the context of an imaginative story with relatable characters also helps so much, because that's how my mind and imagination engage best with information. If I get the chance to follow in my parents' steps and homeschool my own kids someday, or even if I don't, I will definitely be using these books to teach my future children, if I have any.
I first read the Sir Cumference series as an elementary school-aged child, and I've loved them ever since. The stories have always made me laugh and captured my imagination. It's been a few years since I've read them, and upon rereading the series, I'm pleased to find that the books are are just as wonderful and quality now that I'm an adult and a writer. I was also overjoyed to recently discover the existence of more Sir Cumference sequels that I'd wished for for many years.
I grew up with the first four SirSir Cumference books, and they're special to me, but I enjoyed a couple of the new ones just as much. The first four books in the series are best read in order, but some of the later books were not published chronologically, and they can be read in any order after the first book. For instance, The Isle of Immeter can be read in any order after the first two books, but it should be read before The Viking's Map, since it introduces a new female protagonist. My favorite books in the series are definitely the ones featuring Sir Cumference's son Radius as the main character - the ones I grew up on, and also the slightly newer books I read more recently that follow both Radius and his female cousin Per of Immeter.
The Sir Cumference books are full of sweet characters, exciting tales, adventure, entertaining humor, learning, and more. All this is contained in a short picture book - no small feat! I highly recommend the Sir Cumference series to people of all ages who enjoy a clever and fun story, especially to teachers and homeschoolers for teaching math in an entertaining and engaging manner.
Each book is engaging and well-written, with endearing and clever characters, exciting adventures, and humor throughout. I laugh at the puns and plays on words and at the hilarious situations the characters often go through. I'm amazed at the loveliness of the illustrations, which - like the text - are colorful, funny, exciting, and imaginative, as well as beautifully painted on actual canvas, with gorgeous lighting and color.
And the math concepts presented in the text are humourously, clearly, and simply explained, while still retaining complex and sophisticated information of basic geometry and sometimes other areas of math. And in the context of a fun story, they're easy to remember and recall. A very young child can understand the explanation of the basic concept, the full explanation can aid the learning of an older student, and teens and adults can enjoy the clever books just as much.
I'm good at math, but it's never come easily to me, as it does for my siblings. I struggle to learn and understand math concepts when I can't understand the why and how behind them. Even as a teen and adult, and as a child, reading Sir Cumference helped give me that brilliant light-bulb moment of finally understanding why the equation to find the circumference or area of a circle is the way it is, and works the way it does. The books break these concepts down and show them in concrete, tangible ways, rather than only abstract, nebulous numbers and equations. This way, it's easy to understand how the equation works to produce the number, instead of being unreachable and impossible to wrap one's mind around. Weaving the math into the context of an imaginative story with relatable characters also helps so much, because that's how my mind and imagination engage best with information. If I get the chance to follow in my parents' steps and homeschool my own kids someday, or even if I don't, I will definitely be using these books to teach my future children, if I have any.
I first read the Sir Cumference series as an elementary school-aged child, and I've loved them ever since. The stories have always made me laugh and captured my imagination. It's been a few years since I've read them, and upon rereading the series, I'm pleased to find that the books are are just as wonderful and quality now that I'm an adult and a writer. I was also overjoyed to recently discover the existence of more Sir Cumference sequels that I'd wished for for many years.
I grew up with the first four SirSir Cumference books, and they're special to me, but I enjoyed a couple of the new ones just as much. The first four books in the series are best read in order, but some of the later books were not published chronologically, and they can be read in any order after the first book. For instance, The Isle of Immeter can be read in any order after the first two books, but it should be read before The Viking's Map, since it introduces a new female protagonist. My favorite books in the series are definitely the ones featuring Sir Cumference's son Radius as the main character - the ones I grew up on, and also the slightly newer books I read more recently that follow both Radius and his female cousin Per of Immeter.
The Sir Cumference books are full of sweet characters, exciting tales, adventure, entertaining humor, learning, and more. All this is contained in a short picture book - no small feat! I highly recommend the Sir Cumference series to people of all ages who enjoy a clever and fun story, especially to teachers and homeschoolers for teaching math in an entertaining and engaging manner.
September 3, 2016
This is NOT a book I would have bought myself. I might have glanced at it in the bookstore, but I would never have bought it. It seemed very limited because it is a story book about math. How often could I possibly use a book about math?
My daughter bought this book for me for Christmas. It took a math class assignment to read a "trade book", create a lesson plan and a game related to that book. Since I had this book lying around, I decided to put it to use.
I don't think I would have ever thought of using a story book to teach a math concept if I hadn't been forced to do so. That is unfortunate. There is a whole world of literature out there that can be used to bridge the world between reading/literacy and other subjects... cross curricular activities. There are so many possibilities that teachers often overlook because we tend to segment instruction into skill sets.
The story of Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle is not very complicated however it nicely weaves the concept of rounding numbers to 10 into an interesting (if a bit simplistic) story. I think the literary aspect of the story needs to be simple though to allow the math concept to take center stage.
I recently used this book and the game I made to match it in my classroom. My students were fascinated by the story (more because of the knights and the castle than because of the math concept it taught). Using a story in math was different than traditional math instruction. It was a nice change for the students and they were more engaged. The matching game has kept their attention and is helping them to recognize the closest "Friendly Ten". I also have the book available for my students to look at/read in class so they can review the concept of "Rounds Two" (or rounds to).
If you have never seen a math-based story book, you should definitely look at the genre. I know that there are other choices out there as well, but I can recommend Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle. Cindy Neuschwander has at least 10 books in the "Sir Cumference" series that address a variety of math concepts. I intend to purchase the other books that match the math standards/concepts I teach.
My daughter bought this book for me for Christmas. It took a math class assignment to read a "trade book", create a lesson plan and a game related to that book. Since I had this book lying around, I decided to put it to use.
I don't think I would have ever thought of using a story book to teach a math concept if I hadn't been forced to do so. That is unfortunate. There is a whole world of literature out there that can be used to bridge the world between reading/literacy and other subjects... cross curricular activities. There are so many possibilities that teachers often overlook because we tend to segment instruction into skill sets.
The story of Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle is not very complicated however it nicely weaves the concept of rounding numbers to 10 into an interesting (if a bit simplistic) story. I think the literary aspect of the story needs to be simple though to allow the math concept to take center stage.
I recently used this book and the game I made to match it in my classroom. My students were fascinated by the story (more because of the knights and the castle than because of the math concept it taught). Using a story in math was different than traditional math instruction. It was a nice change for the students and they were more engaged. The matching game has kept their attention and is helping them to recognize the closest "Friendly Ten". I also have the book available for my students to look at/read in class so they can review the concept of "Rounds Two" (or rounds to).
If you have never seen a math-based story book, you should definitely look at the genre. I know that there are other choices out there as well, but I can recommend Sir Cumference and the Roundabout Battle. Cindy Neuschwander has at least 10 books in the "Sir Cumference" series that address a variety of math concepts. I intend to purchase the other books that match the math standards/concepts I teach.
October 11, 2016
I had to pick out this book as I have read other "Sir Cumference" books in the past. As a math teacher I will have these on my shelves and will occasionally read them to my whole class. Like the other "Sir Cumference" books this one also felt like a math concept was the first priority and the story came second. In other words, this book feels contrived. A topic is focused on, in this book it's rounding, and a half-hearted story is built around it.
No one should read this book for it's entertainment value. It should only be read if you are speaking about rounding numbers and need a break from crunching numbers.
No one should read this book for it's entertainment value. It should only be read if you are speaking about rounding numbers and need a break from crunching numbers.
September 3, 2021
This is a series of different books that tie into math concepts. The characters are named after different math concepts which is a great way to introduce new vocabulary. It is a wonderful example of how to integrate ELA and math.
These stories could be a great introduction to a math lesson. They could be used to introduce a concept or review something that is being studied.
This book addresses adding by tens and estimating. We meet Rounds 2, which is close to rounds to.
Grades: any covering the skills addressed!
These stories could be a great introduction to a math lesson. They could be used to introduce a concept or review something that is being studied.
This book addresses adding by tens and estimating. We meet Rounds 2, which is close to rounds to.
Grades: any covering the skills addressed!
April 8, 2016
04/16: This one is about rounding numbers to make them easier to add up. The schtick her is that we get the phrase "Rounding to," as in "98 rounds to 100," from the name of the kid, "Round 2." This whole series is great fun and does help kids to conceptualize math premises.
This one was published in 2015. "Sir Cumference and the First Round Table" was published in 1997. Long-running series!
This one was published in 2015. "Sir Cumference and the First Round Table" was published in 1997. Long-running series!
September 19, 2015
I thought it was kind of fun! The illustrations were good and the story makes you want to finish the book. But by the time kids are old enough to grasp the whole story, hopefully they've already learned about rounding to ten!
May 20, 2017
Excellent story AND math learning resource.
Want to hear about castles, archers and adventure while learning about rounding numbers?
Well, you can in this book. A wonderful extension to the a series we have come to love for young mathematicians.
Want to hear about castles, archers and adventure while learning about rounding numbers?
Well, you can in this book. A wonderful extension to the a series we have come to love for young mathematicians.
June 10, 2018
This book—the first I’ve read in the Sir Cumference series—manages to keep a fine and engaging balance between laying out the mathematical practice of rounding, up or down, while using a medieval narrative of battle and defending a castle.
July 22, 2021
APPROXIMATE - WHY AND HOW
Sometimes, it's hard to count the sum, so we use approximate number to add, it is easier.
In this book, the character feel hard to sum, so he only count numbers of ten.
P/s: approximate ten new words, for next reading time.
Sometimes, it's hard to count the sum, so we use approximate number to add, it is easier.
In this book, the character feel hard to sum, so he only count numbers of ten.
P/s: approximate ten new words, for next reading time.
Read
November 24, 2015a little confusing, I think. Didn't understand until the end that it was about rounding numbers, despite a character's name being "Rounds 2." Hrh.
Read
June 26, 2019Fictional Story
Math Concept: Rounding
Math Concept: Rounding
October 1, 2020
I love these books that teach maths in such a fun and practical way. A great addition to our home school.
May 29, 2020
A little bit more confusing than the other books, but still more enjoyable as a story than some of the others such as the book on values.
August 19, 2020
We love the Sir Cumference books, such witty and educational books about math!
August 22, 2021
Great book to read to my fourth graders about rounding numbers.
January 3, 2022
Entertaining
December 14, 2022
It's a basic picture book but our math-loving 10-year-old who is also into medieval things still liked it.
March 29, 2023
This is not the best book or story, but a great way to introduce or reinforce the concept of rounding.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews