Edgar Allan Poe's Pie

Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie: Math Puzzlers in Classic Poems, by J. Patrick Lewis, 2012

Lewis, J. Patrick, and Michael Slack, ill. Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. ISBN 978-0547513386

Illustration by Michael Slack,
image from goodreads.com

Ages 6 and up

Are they poems? Are they math problems? Are they parodies? Yes! All of the above! In this collection of parodies of famous poems, J. Patrick Lewis has rewritten them in the original author’s style while artfully infusing each poem with a math word problem to challenge the reader’s skills.

There are 14 well-known poems, such as “April Rain Song” by Langston Hughes, that older readers may be familiar with. Many readers will recognize the meter in Lewis’ parodies, such as “Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie,” inspired by “The Raven”:

“Once upon a midnight rotten,

Cold, and rainy, I’d forgotten

All about the apple pie

Still cooling from the hour before.”

The poem then goes on to ask the reader “How many cuts give me ten pieces?” with the clue “Never four!” This first poem was the easiest problem to solve, with the problems getting progressively more difficult. The answers to the problems are explained in small print that is printed upside down on each poem’s two-page spread, which makes it easy for readers to get instant confirmation of their answer.

Lewis uses clever word and number play to morph poems such as “Boa Constrictor” by Shel Silverstein into “Shel Silverstein’s Hippo-po-tah-tum”:

“Oh, I’m being eaten

By a hippo-po-tah-tum

At 4 percent per bite!”

Lewis goes on to ask the reader to calculate how many bites it took to eat the whole victim.

The author stays true to the rhythm, rhyme, and sound of the original poems, while making them fresh again with his witty rewriting and ingenious math problems. Above all, Lewis is having fun with these poems, and it shows. The light-hearted poems range from limericks (“Edward Lear’s Elephant with Hot Dog”) to a full page of quatrain stanzas (“Lewis Carroll’s Fish and Chips”).

Michael Slack’s brightly colored and imaginative illustrations, digitally painted in Photoshop, add a hilarious twist to the poems. The artist shows his sense of humor in details such as a cowboy and his horse wearing tightie whitie briefs while admiring boxer shorts on a clothes line for “Robert Frost’s Boxer Shorts” (inspired by Frost’s “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening”). Many of the illustrations also give a nod to the original poem, such as a pair of raven’s claws ready to snatch up an apple pie, or a boa constrictor’s head peering over the rear end of a hippo.

Now, I will personally admit that I’m not mathematically inclined. I got 11 out of the 14 poem problems correct. The three I got wrong were due to my misunderstanding of what the author wanted from the problem, which could also be an issue for some younger readers. However, whenever you start reading the poems, you can’t help but want to grab a pen and paper and try to solve the problem at hand. Although the poetry is appropriate for ages 6 and up, the math involved is probably more appropriate for grades 3 and up.

Reading and writing connections:

·      Have students find and read the original poems that were parodied in this book. Have them compare and contrast the originals with Lewis’ parodies.

·      After reminding students that not all poems have to rhyme, have them create their own word problems in poetic form. Encourage them to create multi-step problems like the author does. They can then exchange poems and solve each others’ math problems.

·      Explore various types of poems, such as acrostics, limericks, haiku, and free verse to create poems that are about math and/or math concepts, but don’t necessarily have a problem embedded. For example,

“Line segment

you are on your own.

Stuck between two points,

your boundaries for infinity.”

                              R. Grape

·      Have students publish the final versions of their poems with original artwork, and consider creating a printed or digital book of their works.

·      If you or your students want to explore more math poetry, try mathstory.com at:

http://mathstory.com/poems/mathpoemspage.html#.UHTv6rQVOXQ

·      If you or your students want to explore more math poetry, try the following books:

·      Hopkins, Lee Bennett, and Karen Barbour, ill. Marvelous Math. New York. Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0-689-80658-2

·      Sandburg, Carl, and Ted Rand, ill. Arithmetic. Orlando, FL. HBJ Publishers, 1970.

ISBN 0-15-203865-5

Reviews:

"Lewis cleverly combines math and language arts with this collection of humorous poetry parodies that present readers with math word problems to solve."--Kirkus

"Teachers and parents might challenge youngsters to try solving the math problems, then introduce them to the classic poems by reading them together."--School Library Journal

"Slack's bug-eyed caricatures are an exuberant complement to Lewis's delightfully offbeat union of poetry and math."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"This book could come in handy for a variety of different classroom purposes."—Booklist

If you want to learn more about author (and Children’s Poet Laureate) J. Patrick Lewis and illustrator Michael Slack, here are links to their websites:

http://www.jpatricklewis.com

http://www.slackart.com