Lines, Bars and Circles: How William Playfair Invented Graphs

by Helaine Becker, Marie-Ève Tremblay (Illustrator)

Born in Scotland more than 250 years ago, William Playfair was a dreamer who “saw the world differently from other people.” Unfortunately, this difference sometimes got in the way of his success. Early on, as he attempted to apply his unique perspective to a series of career opportunities in order to gain “riches! fame! glory!” he instead suffered one failure after another. Then, while writing a book about economics, Will's innovative vision inspired an idea that would set him apart: he created the first modern line graph. Next came a bar graph and later a pie chart. These infographic inventions provided a way for numbers to be seen as pictures, which made them easier to understand and to remember --- and thus changed the way the world would interact with data forever. With this story of an unconventional man whose creative expressions revolved around math, science, engineering and technology, bestselling author Helaine Becker has created the perfect picture book introduction to STEM education. It would easily find use across curriculums in the classroom. On one level, it is a well-told and engaging biography of an intriguing man, illustrated with humor by Marie-Ève Tremblay. But it also explores math concepts such as measurement and geometry, as well as history, with sidebars on subjects such as the Industrial Revolution and steam engines. In addition, the book teaches the important lesson that everyone should follow their own curiosities to wherever they lead. The end matter includes historical notes, as well as more detailed explanations of the three types of graphs.

Genres: Picture Books, Biography, Mathematics, Nonfiction, History, Stem, Science

36 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Helaine Becker has written over 70 books, including the #1 National bestseller, A Porcupine in a Pine Tree,and its sequel, Dashing through the Snow, Sloth at the Zoom, Dirk Daring, Secret Agent, the Looney Bay All-Stars chapter book series, non-fiction including Counting on Katherine, Worms for Breakfast and Zoobots (all Junior Library Guild Selections), Monster Science, You Can Read, Lines Bars and Circles, and Boredom Blasters, plus many picture books and young adult novels. She also writes for children’s magazines and for children's television. Her show Dr. Greenie's Mad Lab was a finalist at MIP.com Junior in Cannes.
She has won the Lane Anderson Award for Science Writing for Children twice,once for The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea and once for The Insecto-Files, and the Picture Book of the Year Award from the Canadian Booksellers Association for A Porcupine in a Pine Tree. She has also won three Silver Birch awards and a Red Cedar award.

Helaine Becker holds U.S. and Canadian citizenship. She attended high school in New York, university in North Carolina (Go Blue Devils!!!!) and now lives in Toronto with her husband and dog, Ella. She has two really handsome sons.

Reviews

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Playfair was a dreamer. He lived during the time of The Industrial Revolution and The French Revolution, a time when scientists and inventors believed in numbers and formulas to create breakthroughs like the steamboat and steam-powered locomotive. Scientists used The Scientific Method, testing hypotheses with experimentation. Will found all jobs he held to be very confining. He dreamed bigger!

Will decided to write books on subjects fascinating to him. He found that he could present information visually. By turning data into pictures, he thought the information would become easier to remember. The scientific community did not embrace his infographics for one hundred years.

Author Helaine Becker and illustrator Marie-Eva Tremblay have created a factual, at times humorous, tome about William Playfair, the inventor of the line graph, bar graph and the pie chart. Biographical end notes on Playfair are an excellent addition providing a "snapshot" of a little known mathematician and inventor. "Lines, Bars and Circles: How William Playfair Invented Graphs" by Helaine Becker would be a welcome addition to any school or home library.

Thank you Kids Can Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Lines,Bars and Circles".

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

OFF THE CHARTS GREAT! Plus I get to put another book on my VERY lean math shelf. If you have ever gone to a meeting you know that there are lots of ways to 'graph' ideas out. This book will introduce you to the basic of graphs; it really helped me see things from a different perspective. Funny how books for children often do that!

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super interesting non fiction picture book about William Playfair and his inventions, which happen to be line graphs, bar graphs, and pie chart. In a very clear way the book presents William from his early years, his ambitions and many failures, and how he one day thought about representing numerical information in pictures, to make it easier to understand. Unfortunately William's charts weren't successful at the time, in part also because of the bad reputation he built for himself, and it took one hundred years to rediscovered his "charts". Now we see them everywhere.
The book also presents some information in little boxes about contemporary historical events that influenced William's life, inventions, and luck.
I think this is a great book by a great author (I also loved Monster Science: Could Monsters Survive (and Thrive!) in the Real World?), with funny illustrations (I also loved Inside Your Insides: A Guide to the Microbes That Call You Home illustrations). My daughter enjoyed it, and I plan to buy a copy for us and another one for her classroom.

Age range: 7 years old and up.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lovely picture book explains clearly and in an accessible manner what line, pie, and bar charts are and how they are useful for depicting information in visual, memorable ways. In addition, it tells the story of their creator, without glossing over his disreputable business dealings and less-than-stellar reputation. The bright, humorous illustrations add interest and appeal. #NetGalley

[Amanda Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish this book had been available while I was still teaching. It's the story of William Playfair, the inventor of bar graphs, line graphs and pie charts. His story is interesting and the author tells it well. The illustrations help with understanding the story just like graphs and charts help with understanding data. It's a great biography for elementary readers and their teachers.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really fun. Hard to believe about a book of graphs and charts. It’s the writing and the illustrations that make this book enjoyable from beginning to end. The author makes Will a character with big ideas and many faults. It's not just “here are the facts ma'am”. I enjoyed it, and I love it for showing that even people who may be failures at one, or two, or many things, can still not only become famous, but really help out society.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Playfair (don't you love the name?) was, well, a goof-off and loser. He was a great thinker with great ideas, but most of them fell through or got him in trouble. And although he was the first recorded person to create and use line charts, bar graphs, and pie graphs, they were more-or-less scoffed at during his lifetime. Poor guy. This book chronicles all his failings and some of his triumphs, giving us a glimpse into the times as well - historical information is presented within the book (not as an afterword) on The Scientific Method, The Industrial Revolution, and The French Revolution. There IS also a three- page afterword with more information about the charts that Mr. Playfair actually created.

[Sheri Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh that my boys were young again! This book makes me long for the days when we curled around a book just like this and absorbed the adorable illustrations while learning some fascinating historical information. Even though my teens are too old for read-aloud times (as they have their own books they're reading), like me, they would still learn some neat information about the origins of line graphs, bar graphs, and pie graphs. Anyone who knows me knows..I'm not a "math" person nor a "science" person yet I was drawn to Lines, Bars, and Circles because it made the normally boring idea (to me, anyway) of the invention of infographics appealing.

Long before the various types of "learning" styles were discovered, William Playfair created the first line graphs, bar graphs and circle (later known as pie) graphs in the late 1780s and early 1800s as a way to visualize information for clarity. He found a way to make numbers and data more easily understood by all yet the scientific community rejected his inventions. We haven't heard of William Playfair, sadly, because of his business dealings, finances, and reputation, overall, hurt his chances of being taken seriously. The author respectfully explains how his choices made for his ideas being rejected well. It would be another 100 years before William's inventions of the line graph, bar graph, and pie graph would be rediscovered, appreciated and used.

It's funny to think that something so commonplace in our educational system, our business world and, truthfully, most aspects of our life was seen as a "distraction" and not a serious way to disseminate information. Thanks to the Internet, we have access to all kinds of great infographics (which I love!)...and all thanks to William Playfair!

Educators and parents alike will want to add this book to their collection. The story is well told, even providing boxes with "backstory" information or definitions, to expand the child's understanding and the illustrations are warm and friendly making this one an engaging read.

[Stephanie Bange · Rating 4 out of 5]

“William Playfair was a dreamer. He saw the world differently from other people.” So begins this picturebook biography about a precocious boy who was a joker, yet grew up to be an excellent mathematician. He was farmed out to an inventor, however felt he was being held back from “riches! fame! glory!” Once he struck out on his own, every venture he tried, he failed. When writing a book, he created the first line graph, then grouped chunks of information to create a bar graph, and wanted to show relationship and so created a pie chart.

“With all of his charts, Will believed he had invented valuable tools for sharing hard-to-understand information. What a future he could see for himself now! His glorious destiny must be assured at last. But it was not to be. At least, now in his lifetime.” Although his work was rejected by his peers, almost a hundred years later, Playfair’s graphs finally caught on.

This is a great example of the importance of keeping trying in the face of failure and would be a fun way to open a unit on graphs and graphing. Many of Mayfair’s charts are can be found online. For grades 3-6.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Becker, Helaine Lines, Bars, and Circles: How William Playfair Invented Graphs. PICTURE BOOK. Kids Can Press, 2017. $18.

William Playfair was considered a ne’er-do-well in his community and by the scientific community at large. Because of his poor reputation, almost no one paid any attention to his three new inventions – the line graph, bar graph and pie chart. The father of the modern-day infographic died practically penniless, never finding the scheme that would make him rich and famous.

Perfect for STEM support in any class that has students use or create infographics of any kind. The front story details Playfair’s life and exploits and the historic notes in the back add depth and details to story., also showing Playfair’s original graphs.

EL, MS – ESSENTIAL. HS – OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library Teacher
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2017/...

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew that graphs were invented for a specific purpose? And they were invented over a hundred years before modern computers? I also think youngsters will be surprised to find a biography about someone who has a few character flaws! The "More about William and His Charts" in the back point this out, although it's just hinted at in the story text.
Digitally rendered illustrations are not too busy - just enough detail to invite the reader to pause, but not get distracted from the text.
So many connections to various math lessons - can't wait to share this with my teachers!

[Sarah S. Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that makes you realize how little you know about the world. My daughter and I enjoyed learning about the history of graphs. It had never really occurred to us that they had been invented, though of course they must. We enjoyed the quirky illustrations and spent the rest of the afternoon creating our own graphs.

[Jane G Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating portrait of a man who fully represented both the strengths and weaknesses of man, and how even braggarts are capable of clear and creative thinking. Mankind is a creature worth examining!

Mathematics, graphs, a quick study of human nature--there's a lot in this little book, and to top it off, it's superbly illustrated by Tremblay...

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adding to my 2nd grade curriculum! How fun!

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to believe line and bar graphs and pie charts didn't always exist! This is an interesting picture biography that would make a great read aloud in upper elementary classes.

[Madison Hargett]

The story Lines, Bars and Circles: How William Playfair Invented Graphs by Helaine Becker is such an amazing book to read! This story is about William Playfair and the time period is around The Industrial Revolution and The French Revolution, which was a time when inventors and scientists were very interested in numbers and formulas. Will was a dreamer and an independent thinker who was able to see things differently from those around him. William shown in his early years in this story failed at a lot of jobs and ideas, but then one day he thought about representing numerical data into pictures. He thought this would make it easier for people to see and understand numerical information. Unfortunately, during William's time of living, his charts were unsuccessful, and a lot of it had to deal with his bad reputation that he had previously built for himself. After one hundred years, William's charts were rediscovered and people became interested in them. Now William Playfair's charts are seen everywhere being used around the world! This would be an amazing book for me to read and use in my future classroom to help teach my students how to use different types of graphs to track numerical data, and to follow their dreams. I would want my students to know that they might fail trying to reach their dreams and goals, but to never give up on theirselves. I could incorporate some hands-on activities for my students to participate in individually or with a partner. I could have my students measure different sizes of the same object and record what their data was on a certain graph that I assign each group to use that was used and illustrated in the book. At the end of the activity and after all the students have measured each object, I will have them compare and contrast their data they collected with a different group that used a different type of graph. I would want my students to get the most out of this activity and see that there are different ways to collect numerical data in a simpler way to understand. I also want to express to them that their dreams matter, and if it does not succeed the first time that it could a couple days, months, or years from now just like it did for William Playfair.

[Samantha Dowty · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so many ways to incorporate the story of William Playfair into math classroom content. I would start by reading the book to the class. Throughout the read-aloud I would ask questions to get them thinking critically about the content. Questions could sound like: Why doesn’t William give up? What should he do at this point in the book? Have you ever felt this way? When/why or why not? After the whole-group reading and discussion I would move into an activity about graphing. I would ask the students what they want to graph as a class. Asking them their preference will make them more engaged in the lesson because they were able to exercise autonomy over their learning. We would practice creating the types of graphs together as a team. For example, I would use chart paper to create the outline of a bar graph and they would each get a sticky note. They would place their sticky notes according to which item of the category is their favorite. We would then debrief the creation of the chart, its purposes, and how to make their own. We would follow that same procedure with a line graph and a pie chart. The three types of graphs will stay up on the anchor charts for the rest of the lesson for all kids to see. After that, each student will be given their own piece of paper. They will choose to create one of the graphs on their paper and have their classmates fill it in with data. To wrap it all up they can share with each other about what they made!

[Emma Andje · Rating 4 out of 5]

I graduated with a degree in mathematics and did my final project on math history, so I am always in search of fantastic children's books about mathematics or that incorporate mathematics.

William Playfair was a wannabe inventor during the late 18th century and beginning of the 19th century. When his father died, his brother dissuaded him from inventing and forced him to learn mathematics. However, even with his formal education in mathematics, William was drawn to inventing. When his inventions and businesses failed, he started working for other corporations. In order to earn a living, William started writing about economics and created multiple visual representations of the data he collected, what we now call Bar Charts, Pie Charts, and Graphs.

Other than teaching children about mathematics, this book also teaches children to think outside of the box and to be creative. William never gave up inventing, and because of this, he created one of the most useful tools in statistics and economics.

The visuals are cute and help to show children the arc of the story and the various charts William created.

I was given an ARC of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though he filled his life with errant misdeeds, the outcome well after his death is one I imagine most mathematicians and statisticians celebrate, "IF" they knew his story. William Playfair's father died when he was twelve, and he ended up living and being educated by his famous mathematician brother John. He evidently was quite a bold character because, restless, he left that home to work for an inventor, at age fourteen! And the story goes, with William moving from person to person, project to project, unsuccessful, making decisions with ill-gotten gains, never quite becoming "fancy, superior, or special" as he dreamed. Helaine Becker's story is illuminated with the full page, kin to mathematical straight-line illustrations of Marie-Eve Tremblay. Further information to William's story is at the back with pictures of the very first graphs published, a break-through in this kind of communication of numbers. It was over a hundred years before the importance of these info-graphics known so well to even kindergarteners was recognized.

[Kenna Lampe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve never heard of William Playfair before! I had no idea that this man had such an impact on how people do math today so this book was so fun for me to learn from. Playfair is famous for inventing graphs and charts to show mathematical concepts more visually. Playfair believed that math did not have to be hard and instead could make sense to people if only they could “see” what was happening. Without Playfair, math would be 10 times harder than it already is!Playfair himself was a bit of a jokester in life and dedication in the beginning of the book is even made out to “troublemakers everywhere”. Playfair was also a dreamer, which encourages children to be dreamers just like him. This book is a bit on the longer side and a bit harder to understand. I might use this book more if I was teaching older students with higher attention spans. I still enjoyed the book however and could see using it to help students understand math, science, and even history since the story details time period as the events in the story progress.

[Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book, and I think this is such a fun way to give students real facts and allow them to learn more about where the things that they have to learn come from! As a reader, I loved the way that the information was given at a level that was understandable and interesting, and I really enjoyed how there were additional boxes of information giving us more insight to the time period that the book was portraying. As a teacher, I can see this book being used at the beginning of a math lesson to tie in literature with mathematics! Once you read this book, giving students the history behind the graphs they're learning, have students work with each type of graph. Start with simple data that students can understand and move up from there. I think this would be a really engaging and fun way to introduce a lesson with the graphs mentioned in the story!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Playfair. Someone you have never heard of. Why haven't you heard of him? Well, he was liar, a cheat, and a thief... and in 18th Century England.... those carried a lot of weight and more often than not outweighed the good one can do.
We go to our Word, or Excel program and pull out a pie or graph chart all the time. (I use them a lot to show data) and to think, they were an every day thing in England 1780s. The the inventor didn't receive much credit during his life for his concept.
Read the author notes at the back very interesting as well!
I love these type of diamond in the rough, unsung hero of history!
Great for 3-7th math Classes! I would be very cool!
*Note this book was borrowed from another library so you can't read it at our library!*

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

My seven year old read this book to me. We both enjoyed it. The story was dense with content but it felt organic. Smartly done with humorous illustrations.

Would work well as part of a thoughtful STEAM curriculum.

It's strange to think of charts/graphs have been invented so recently (late 1700s) but perhaps a high level of literacy and access to writing implements were needed. According to this history, Mr. Playfair was mocked during his lifetime and grafts didn't come into usage until a century later. Interesting to learn and something I hadn't considered up to now.

Note: As a read-aloud, it is a long book that may need to be split into parts, especially if you want to dig into the content of being an inventor and mechanical engineer.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an informative look into an obscure historical figure, and I was genuinely surprised by how delightful this was. I think it sends a good message about how thinking outside the box can lead to brilliant new innovations, but about how those innovations won't get you far if you don't put some discipline behind making them happen. I think this is full of the kinds of fun facts that a lot of bookish kids live for (I know I did), although it CAN get weirdly dense for a picture book in places. The art is cute.

Would definitely recommend, especially for any kids who enjoy history, infographics, and obscure facts.

[Julia Huntley]

Helaine Becker does a great job telling the true story of William Playfair while also entertaining the reader. This book could be an entertaining and interesting book even if it was not based off facts and a true story. The storyline keeps the reader intrigued while also helping them learn. Helaine does a great job of not just listing a lot of information, but making it easier to read and more entertaining for the reader. This book could be used in the classroom to introduce children to bar graphs, line graphs, and pie charts, as well as the industrial revolution. It could also be used as an example of a biography.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book emphasizes Playfair's interest in art and various kinds of visual representations throughout his life, even as he moved among different fields and businesses, and it shows how that built up to him developing the kinds of graphs and charts we take for granted now. (The endnotes show pictures of the first graphs he made of each of the three kinds!)

Very much didn't hide Playfair's flaws in the main text or the endnotes (but especially the endnotes).

I didn't love the illustrations, but they're whimsical in some cool ways.

[Jayna · Rating 2 out of 5]

As soon as I received a copy of this book, my mind thought how this would be such a great introduction to a unit on graphs.
Then, I read it.
It is not a bad book, it is just a whole lot more biography than math. The graphs are not even mentioned until the last few pages and it goes into little detail about them. (When compared to all the details on William Playfair's life up to that point.)
So go into this with the knowledge that this is better suited for a biography unit than an introduction to graphs.
I received a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Sidney Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Playfair was extremely smart! He was so smart, people didn't even understand him. In this book you get the perfect combination of math and history. The author makes sure to incorporate William's back story and how everything became and he also makes sure to add definitions of mathematical terms. Such a great book for young children beginning graphs! In the future, when I become a teacher, I will use this book to introduce graphs to my students.

[Kimberly Phifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great background on how the graphs we use today came about. I liked how it described the way that he came up with the idea. The book was really interesting and held my attention.

As a future teacher, this could be used for a history and math lesson. This is a good way to incorporate reading into other subjects and teach them about the history of things.

[Michael Perez · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book could be trimmed a bit. It seems like it takes us a long time to get to anything related to his graphs. I like the personality building, but children (or adults) who don't care about graphs probably won't be changed by this book. Still, worth a look.