Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Hat

by Marilyn Sadler, Eric Comstock (Illustrator)

Charlie Piechart’s second math mystery takes place at school—when a purple, sparkly cone-shaped princess hat goes missing! Margot needs her hat in time for the school play (today!), so Charlie and his dog companion, Watson, are on the case—finding evidence of sparkles and purple paint and keeping on the lookout for geometric clues that might lead to the missing hat. Fantastic colors, clever characters, and beginning concepts in geometry will go down easy as pie, while activities at the end of the book will reinforce the shapes and the story. Dynamic duo Eric Comstock and Marilyn Sadler bring the right level of energy and entertainment for this engaged picture book audience.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Mathematics, Geometry

40 pages, Hardcover

Published October 4, 2016

About the author

With a degree in fine arts, Marilyn Sadler assumed she would be an illustrator. But when early in her career she was presented with an opportunity to write, she seized it and quickly discovered that she had found her true love. No sad, sappy stories for her, however. She likes to make herself laugh, and with that her characters usually end up looking pretty silly for one reason or another.

Her first children’s book featured a fastidious little English boy named Alistair Grittle and was originally created for the English publisher, Hamish Hamilton, as well as for Simon & Schuster in the United States. Having created a boy with such perfect behavior, she then turned her attention to a not so perfectly behaved little boy. His name was P.J. Funnybunny, and he has existed in a series of books for Random House, including the highly prestigious Dr. Seuss Cat In the Hat series.

Marilyn’s television credits include two PBS Reading Rainbow programs featuring Alistair, an Alistair program for the BBC, three ABC Weekend Specials featuring P.J. Funnybunny, and a show based on her children’s book, "Elizabeth and Larry", for Showtime’s Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories.

Between 1999 and 2004, The Disney Channel produced three Original Movies based on her book, "Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century". Each of Disney’s Zenon movies had exceptionally high ratings, with Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century and Zenon the Zequel among the highest rated shows in the history of The Disney Channel.

In 2004, Playhouse Disney began production on Marilyn and Roger Bollen's animated series, Handy Manny. Handy Manny premiered September 16, 2006, as the highest rated Playhouse Disney series premiere of all time. In 2009, Marilyn was nominated for an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of Handy Manny.

Reviews

[Kaylin (The Re-Read Queen) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Things this book explains:

- shapes
- the exact shape of the object we are looking for

Things this book does not explain:

- why the main character is literally a pie chart when everyone else is normal
- why the dog has the principal’s hat
- why the piechart kid has a dog
- why a paper hat was used as part of a rocket

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, Goodreads Blurber, for preparing me to read my first book about Charlie Piechart:

"Charlie Piechart’s second math mystery takes place at school—when a purple, sparkly cone-shaped princess hat goes missing!"

Rose's practical translation: Read this book to children who like (or might like) geometry and other STEM subjects. So delightful!

Now, back to the actual story.....

POOR PRINCESS VIOLET

Will she find her missing hat in time for the school play?

Charlie collects evidence and eventually solves the mystery.

INTERSPERSED WITH THE ADVENTURE ARE FUN FACTS

For instance:

Did you know?

A birthday cake,
a shoe box,
and a cereal box
are all rectangular prisms!

I LIKED THIS BOOK

Thank you, authors Eric Comstock and Marilyn Sadler.
Thanks for your illustrations, too, Eric.
FIVE STARS.

[Donna Mork · Rating 4 out of 5]

The princess hat went missing, so Charlie and his dog search for it. It is a cone shaped hat so they search by shapes. They find half spheres, circles, rectangles, but not the princess cone hat. They finally find it on a rocket that gets launched. It floats back to earth and the princess is able to make it to the school play on time. Back info on shapes.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of geometric language in here that would be great when kids are learning about three dimensional shapes. I like the endnotes that provide directions for creating a couple of simple crafts from the story. In all, this is a good classroom library book.

[Tammy Flanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will be good in math class when discussing shapes.

[Andrea Brooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

math shape books w/a mystery

[Katie Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely brilliant introduction to three-dimensional shapes! What a fun mystery that also secretly teaches you what different 3D shapes look like "in the wild". I am not a math fan and I loved this. Look forward to purchasing these books and sharing them with my students!

[Rebecca Gomez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is pretty cute. An odd cast of characters and an engaging mystery to solve, along with some educational bits about shapes. Fun book.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun mystery that brings in information about 3 dimensional shapes has activities in the back to make a hat and a rocket.