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***If Dogs Were Dinosaurs

by David M. Schwartz

illustrated by James Warhola

Reviewed March 5, 2006.
Scholastic Press, New York, 2005.  32 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (J 513.2 SCH).

Here’s a playful and creative look at the mathematics of relative proportion.

You don’t have to go over the math in the back, but David Schwartz makes the whole concept intriguing.  He figures out things like:  “If your dog were as big as a dinosaur, his dinner would fill up your living room.”  “If your hair were as thick as spaghetti, the meatballs would be as big as bowling balls.”  “If the moon were marble, you could play baseball with planet earth.”

The pictures playfully illustrate the ridiculous results.

At the back, David Schwartz gives us the numbers and calculations he used, and poses some new questions for the reader to figure out.  For example, “If you were as tall as a redwood, how many times as tall as your current height would you be?”

This is an entertaining book even without the math, but once you look at the math concepts behind it, there’s no limit to where you can go with it.

Review of another book by David M. Schwartz:
Millions to Measure

Copyright © 2006 Sondra Eklund.  All rights reserved.

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