MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Many Moons (1943)
James Thurber
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In this famous children's tale about a princess who wants the moon, "the mathematician" is one of three wisemen who shows himself not to be so wise. (The jester, on the other hand,...)

Contributed by Tiffini

It was a very intertaining story and included things like people guessing at how far away the moon is. My daughter who is only 2 years old enjoyed it. As far as providing any REAL math help, though, it's probably not that good a choice. I would use it more for "what if" questions.

Contributed by Anonymous

Many Moons is a children's story, touched by humorous mathematical word-play. A young princess falls ill from a surfeit of raspberry tarts. Only the moon can save her, and the King's advisors (including the Royal Mathematician) offer increasingly ridiculous solutions.

More information about this work can be found at www.amazon.com.
(Note: This is just one work of mathematical fiction from the list. To see the entire list or to see more works of mathematical fiction, return to the Homepage.)

Works Similar to Many Moons
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. A Tangled Tale by Lewis Carroll
  2. MathNet by Childrens Television Workshop
  3. Sir Cumference and the... by Cindy Neuschwander
  4. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster / Jules Feiffer (Illustrator)
  5. Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
  6. The Cat in Numberland by Ivar Ekeland (author) / John O'Brien (illustrator)
  7. Train Brains / The Runaway Train (Donald Duck) by Carl Barks
  8. Math Curse by Jon Scieszka / Lane Smith (illustrator)
  9. Donald in Mathmagic Land by Hamilton Luske (director)
  10. Math Patrol by TV Ontario
Ratings for Many Moons:
RatingsHave you seen/read this work of mathematical fiction? Then click here to enter your own votes on its mathematical content and literary quality or send me comments to post on this Webpage.
Mathematical Content:
1.6/5 (5 votes)
..
Literary Quality:
3.69/5 (10 votes)
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Categories:
GenreHumorous, Children's Literature,
Motif
Topic
MediumPicture Book,

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Exciting News: The 1,600th entry was recently added to this database of mathematical fiction! Also, for those of you interested in non-fictional math books let me (shamelessly) plug the recent release of the second edition of my soliton theory textbook.

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)