Jefferson Measures a Moose

Name: Jefferson Measures a Moose
Brand: Dreamscape Media
Availability: InStock
Author: Mara Rockliff
ISBN: 9781662002601

Author: Mara Rockliff

Narrator: Bronson Pinchot

Unabridged: 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Dreamscape Media

Published: 08/04/2020

Categories: Children's Nonfiction, Concepts, Counting & Numbers

Synopsis

Thomas Jefferson was wild about numbers. He was constantly counting, measuring, and observing things that caught his interest. He loved sharing his discoveries and reading the discoveries of others. But when a famous Frenchman published a book about America, Jefferson was appalled: all the information in the book was wrong. The author insisted that America was a wretched, dismal place, where birds could not sing, dogs could not bark, and everything and everyone was puny and weak. Thomas Jefferson resolved to set the record straightwith numbersand prove to the world that the new nation was worthy of investment. But how do you show that a country is plentiful in an age when photography hasnt been invented yet? Mara Rockliff, master of childrens nonfiction, details another little-known moment in math and natural history.

About Mara Rockliff

Mara Rockliff is the author of many lively historical books for children, including Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery that Baffled All of France, winner of the Cook Prize and an Orbis Pictus Honor book. Her newest picture book biographies are Billie Jean! and Doctor Esperanto and the Language of Hope. She lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with her family. For more information, visit mararockliff.com.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Alicia

This picture book promised to show how Jefferson used math to prove that a French scientific author was wrong when he said America was full of puny animals and birds that couldn't sing. As a homeschooling mom, I'm always looking for "living math" books that show this kind of thing, so I had high hop......more

Goodreads review by Jill

Thomas Jefferson loved science and data, and took copious notes on measurements he made of the natural world all around him. Thus he was particularly disturbed by the writings of a French naturalist, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, who claimed, without evidence, that the animals of America w......more

Goodreads review by Melissa the Librarian

This book was a big "meh" for me. The concept sounds fun--American history! Math! Shipping a moose! But the story itself was boring and dry. The illustrations were pretty good. But I definitely got a "let's prove why America is the biggest and baddest" vibe from the text. The storyline also didn't wo......more

Goodreads review by Matthew

Review copy provided by NetGalley This is not the first book I've read this year on Jefferson's scientific efforts to disprove Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon's claim that the Americas were a backwater with sickly, measly animals. I'm glad that he did it. Buffon was a buffoon who didn't deserve the cred......more