The Greedy Triangle

Author: Marilyn Burns

Illustrator: Gordon Silveria

Recommended Grade Level: K - 2

NCTM Content Standards: Geometry and Connections

Summary: This book is about a triangle immersed in the real world who eventually gets tired of his responsibilities. He has spent his whole life supporting bridges, being a sail for boats, etc., and would like to know what else is out there. He goes to the shapeshifter one day, and many days after that, and is turned into many different polygons. He runs into problems as these many different shapes and eventually decides that life was pretty good as a triangle. The shapeshifter is relieved when the triangle makes his final visit and is turned back into a triangle.

Uses For This Book: I think this book would work very well with kids who have been introduced to the basic shapes. It focuses on polygons, rather than all shapes, so it could challenge students beliefs and expand what they already know. I think a scavenger hunt would be a very successful activity to use after reading this book. Students could search the school for the shapes they learned about in this book. I also think students could make their own pages to this book using the shapes that were not discussed, e.g. circles or stars. Outside of the math world I think this book could also be an excellent jumping off point for a discussion on being happy with oneself.

-Lindsay