I’m Longer Than You! An Epic Contest of Measurement

by Caroline Fisher

Who would have thought that a picture book about measurement could be so fun? Blue Whale and Supersaurus are arguing over which of them is longer. Inchworm comes in and offers to help with the winner buying lunch. It takes inchworm (who is an inch long) 12 hours to measure Blue Whale, who is 1,300 inches long. Inchworm can’t measure Supersaurus, because he has to go into his cocoon. So, in comes centipede (who is a centimeter long) and he measures Supersaurus. It also take 12 hours and Supersaurus is exactly 3302 centimeters long. Wait! What does that mean? Dragonfly saves the day by doing the math and determines that the two behemoths are the same length!

This wonderful melding of math and science into a picture book is hilarious and educational. Readers learn the difference between the customary and metric systems as well as some cool science and end with some little known math terms (check out “zeptosecond”). Accompanying illustrations are cartoon-like and fun. Buy this book and start measuring. Your students will love it! Highly recommended.