Shape Up!: Fun With Triangles and Other Polygons

by David A. Adler, Nancy Tobin (Illustrator)

This takes the fear out of math and puts the fun back in.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

David Abraham Adler is an American children's author. He was born in New York City, New York in 1947. He graduated from Queens College in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in economics and education. For the next nine years, he worked as a mathematics teacher for the New York City Board of Education, while taking classes towards a master's degree in marketing, a degree he was awarded by New York University in 1971. In that same year, a question from his then-three-year-old nephew inspired Adler to write his first story, A Little at a Time, subsequently published by Random House in 1976. Adler's next project, a series of math books, drew on his experience as a math teacher. In 1977, he created his most famous character, Cam Jansen, originally featured in Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds, which was published that year.

Adler married psychologist Renee Hamada in 1973, and their first child, Michael, was born in 1977. By that time Adler had taken a break from teaching and, while his wife continued her work, he stayed home, took care of Michael, and began a full-time writing career.

Adler's son, Michael S. Adler, is now the co-author of several books with his father, including A Picture Book of Sam Adams, A Picture Book of John Hancock, and A Picture Book of James and Dolly Madison. Another son, Edward, was the inspiration for Adler's Andy Russell series, with the events described in the series loosely based on adventures the Adler family had with Edward's enthusiasm and his pets.

As of November 2008, Adler has three sons and two grandsons. He lives in Woodmere, New York.

(source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book can be used to introduce shapes and geometry. It uses a lot of everyday items such as pizza slices and pretzels as examples. Your students will never look at a slice of pizza the same again.

[Betsey Brannen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little long, but otherwise a nicely illustrated book about polygons, angles, and lines. Kids would enjoy using the food supplies to follow along in the book.

[Vo Khon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Watched at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQhWL...
Introduction about:
_ All kind of triangle
_ All kind of quadrilateral
_ Pentagon --> Dodecagon ( 12 sided shape)
_ USING FOOD to describe! Cheeses for triangle, Pretzel for quadrilateral, sandwiched for others shape.
Great, fun.

[Leo Schaefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not exciting but fun to read.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoining readers to poke toothpick holes into a slice of cheese or to assemble pretzel sticks or to fold a round sheet of paper, this nonfiction book introduces the formal geometric names of shapes to elementary readers. Each page has light-colored abstract borders of geometric shapes surrounding deeper-hued cartoon art of a grinning boy pointing or uttering captions to highlight explanations of triangles, angles, polygons, and quadrilaterals in all their variations. The book ends with the whimsical reminder to “Keep on the lookout for polygons,” followed by a convenient glossary for more concise definitions of geometry. This picture book appears to strive to not look like a math textbook though Adler must have drawn on his experiences as a math teacher to make geometry accessible to students. Shape up! Fun with Triangles and Other Polygons makes an appropriate supplementary text in a classroom or school library, for it aligns with the third grade standard where “students describe and compare the attributes of plane and solid geometric figures and use their understanding to show relationships and solve problems” (California Department of Education, 1997).

[Kathryn Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how the book creates ideas using house hold items. This book would be perfect when working with third graders. I think the added quotations of jokes make the book more fun and comical. It shows great representation on the types of triangles. I love how you could do the activities in class using cheese and a pretzel stick. The book can become very interactive. I like how it shows how to make the many different polygons. The definitions and explanations in the back of the book are an added plus. Would suggest to any teacher.

[Janice Redding · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great shape book that introduces different math terms such as polygon, quadrilaterals, horizontal, vertical, etc. Therefore, this would be an upper grades book on shapes. I can use this in the classroom on a geometry lesson on shapes, and show the students how some shapes are used to make other shapes. For example, six triangles can make a hexagon.

[Maxwoodliff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has great examples of vocabulary necessary to understand different polygons. It would be a good book to read with older students because it goes into pentagons and heptagons. In the back of the book there is a glossary for parents and students to look up words that they may not know. I would use this book with older students that are learning about different polygons.

[Allison Burke]

This book provides fun ways to learn about shapes using food and everyday objects. I would use this book when teaching any grade whether it's introducing shapes, categorizing shapes, or learning about the characteristics of shapes. Grades prek-5th.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduction to polygons. Discusses types of angles, triangles, quadrilaterals, and polygons with hands-on manipulative activities.

6th Grade Common Core Standards: None

*Available at Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Libraries*

[Laura Carby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to teaching about shapes! Students love the colorful pages!

[Melanie Swider Wenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great text to read aloud and refer to during geometry unit when teaching and learning about different attributes of shapes and angles.

[Matthew]

good

[emyrose8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun with food... and math!

[Harry Griffin]

This book is great read for young students. This book uses familiar items to make different shapes. Throughout the book, the narrator uses cheese, bread, pretzels, and other items to create several different geometrical figures. This book could a great addition to math lessons in geometry.