I have had this book to read for a while and had forgotten about it.

I was doing an update of the books I had read and saw this one and started reading straight away - and I loved it!

The book was well written and enjoyable and I thought that the illustrations were spot on too.

I love this kind of book and this was a delight to read - even if it did not work out so well for the Moose!

It is 4 stars from me for this one - highly recommended!

We learn many facts about Jefferson from school lessons and pop culture. His fondness for measurement is not one of those things, which is a real shame. I'd no idea how much Jefferson's work did for standardization and record keeping. Not only is this story an interesting anecdote, it's a good example for young readers. Through this tale of Thomas Jefferson, we can see that even the most unusual interest can be valuable. Even if something is considered a waste of time, it may have value. With detailed, elegant illustrations this is an entertaining read.

This book was interesting but felt like half a story. A man in France is writing bad things about America, and Jefferson wants to prove him wrong. So he wants something big and unusual to prove that America is beautiful and interesting and decides he wants to measure a moose. The moose's skin is sent to him for his measuring. I just really didn’t like this book or its artwork which seemed old and dated.
#LitsyAtoZkids.

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 work for a children's book: Jefferson finds out some French guy is badmouthing America, so he sits around a stews about it and then writes a book. Then he moves to France and tries to get the guy to read the book. When that doesn't work, he asks his friend to measure tiny animals for him. Then he realizes he needs to do something dramatic, so (at great expense) he ships a dead moose corpse, but the guy dies and doesn't bother to set the record straight. Why didn't Jefferson bother sending him a moose while he was still in America?

The moose doesn't even prominently fit into the story. I wish the book had either just focused on the math, or hammed up this story to be super dramatic and ridiculous (because it is a ridiculous story).

Another problem is that with all my anti-racism reading, it's hard for me to read things that glaze over the slavery aspect of Jefferson's life. I also can't help but thinking maybe the world thought Americans were weak and lame because they were massively enslaving and torturing another race of people.

Anyway, this book wasn't great at explaining math or Jefferson. Meh.

I liked this quirky book. I had no idea Thomas Jefferson enjoyed math so much.

The story goes, Thomas loved reading. He came across a book by a man named Buffon, from France. Buffon insisted that birds in America couldn’t sing and dogs couldn’t bark. He said animals in America were small and puny. Much of his published information about America was wrong, and this bothered Thomas. Thomas began to study and collect true facts about these same things to prove Buffon wrong. eventually, Thomas published his own book and sent Buffon a moose in the mail to prove his information erroneous. Unfortunately Buffon died soon after and never corrected the errors in his publications.

some of Thomas’ math facts are listed at the back of the book. It was interesting to read that Thomas helped develop how to count American currency. The superintendent of finance wanted nine dimes to equal a dollar. Thomas was convinced that ten dimes in a dollar would be much easier to count.

Kids will enjoy the silly ideas in the book. How does one send a moose through the mail?!? The illustrations were fun and portrayed some great characters with silly facial expressions. This story is worth sharing and a great starting point for a discussion on publishing factual information vs fiction.

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

An interesting topic and a different spin on a Jefferson biography. I would have liked more informational and felt that it was very quick and surface-level.

I always appreciate Mara Rockliff’s non-fiction picture books. Always shining a light on a little known part of history. The copious amounts of backmatter is great and further enhances the text.

Thomas Jefferson a mathematician? Why? What reason would one of the founding fathers of our country have for investing his time and energy into answering math questions? He is probably best known for helping to write the Declaration of Independence,, serving as the second vice president and the third president.. One of the roles he held dear to his heart was that of statesman and diplomat. He traveled to other countries to represent the young United States. It distressed him that others saw the US as inferior. One Frenchman in particular, Buffon, published a book saying that the US was a terrible, cold and damp place to live. He wrote that nothing good could grow there. Jefferson set out to prove him wrong. To do so he called on his love of math. With the help of others he weighed and measured. a variety of wildlife from weasels to moose. Did this convince Buffon and his countrymen? Read Jefferson Measures a Moose to find out this and more.
This book would be a wonderful addition to any classroom as part of a lesson on the importance of math and on the early history of our country.
#JeffersonMeasuresaMoose #NetGalley

All the elements in this book (math concepts, historical figure seen in a new way, humor) add up to create a clever biography that would tie in well with classroom units on measurement, the Founding Fathers, or why you shouldn't make assumptions without seeking evidence to back that assumption.

(I received a digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

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 credit he received as a naturalist. He was stubborn and didn't do adequate research before making seriously flawed claims about things he seemingly knew nothing about.. Look up Buffon's opinions on "racial degeneration" if you think I'm being overly harsh. The guy deserved a serious rebuke.

Anyway, this book, like Bones in the White House by Candice Ransom and Thomas Jefferson and the Mammoth Hunt by Carrie Clickard shows how Jefferson refused to accept Buffon's false assertions about American animals. Though the other two books are centered on his quest for a mammoth, Rockliff chooses to largely omit the mammoth until the end note.

Rockliff's book focuses mainly on the mathematical work and the specimen collection that Jefferson did, with a little help from his friends. It does an exceptional job of maintaining clarity in the text while presenting a concise recount of the steps in his own research. It also does an impressive job in its end note, which is extensive and details not only more about the about the work he did, but also gives an impressive works cited that clarifies how much work went into retelling of Jefferson's scientific endeavor. I think all three titles are worth the read and I won't say I like any one more than the others, but I have a special fondness for Rockliff's work, and she always does an exceptional job on any subject she takes on.

If you are looking for a way to make math fun for kids, make sure to check out Mara Rockliff's book, Jefferson Measures a Moose. Children will learn how Jefferson loved asking questions about numbers like how much (quantity), how far (distance) and how long (duration)? He often jotted down measurements as he went about his business.

Then one day he read a book by a French author, Buffon, who expressed opinions about America that Jefferson knew were false (even Jefferson had to battle fake news!). Buffon said people and animals were much smaller in America than Europe. Jefferson could not let those assertions go unchallenged so he wrote a book of his own with data from his beloved United States.

Children will enjoy discovering the great lengths, that Jefferson went to in proving Buffon wrong. He even enlisted a few famous friends to help him out. I found this story a very fascinating look at one of our founding fathers. It's a great living book offering children real world glimpses at the importance of math in everyday life!

I have to give a shout out to the illustrator of Jefferson Measures a Moose. The incredibly detailed and highly realistic pictures were truly delightful! And evidently very recognizable--my teen glanced over while I was reviewing the book and said, "that is the illustrator of [another book we own]." And she was absolutely correct! If you care to follow other works by this illustrator, check out his website.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of Jefferson Measures a Moose from NetGalley for the purpose of review. No other compensation was received and the opinions expressed are my own.

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 hopes.

In actuality, all Jefferson did was try to measure a bunch of animals (and kind of cheated by only measuring the biggest he could find and comparing them to the French author's average sizes) and then paid to have a poor moose killed and shipped to France to show that we had giant animals. Of course the thing rotted in the months-long voyage in its crate, and the idiot who shipped it killed a moose with no antlers so he sent an assortment of antlers from other animals along with it (supposedly with the suggestion that they could somehow be attached). And ultimately? The Frenchman may or may not have said he was wrong in private but he never publicly retracted his slams against America and died soon after. So I'm not so sure math was a great hero here, and I just sort of felt bad for all the poor animals Jefferson and his buddies killed to measure at length. Men with their obsession with size.... ;)

The art is nice, and it does give kids a bit of a look into American history even if it's not particularly admirable history. The end section goes into more detail about the whole story and provides a reading list for more on the subject.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

In this amusing vignette that occurred during the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson writes a book on North American animals in response to a French book by Buffon which was full of misinformation. He even sent Buffon a moose skeleton and antlers to demonstrate the facts; Buffon died before Jefferson could meet him after being sent to Paris as a diplomat. Overall, the story is pleasant but not that impactful or memorable, but the full color illustrations are engaging, done using watercolors with thin ink outlines. Teachers may find this useful for a lesson on measurement because Jefferson measured all of the animals he wrote about. There is quite a bit of back matter, including a bibliography and more facts on numbers used in the story.

Summary: Thomas Jefferson loved numbers and was always measuring, observing, and jotting down all things quantitative. So when he read a book by a French naturalist named Buffon, claiming that America was a terrible place populated with weak and puny animals, Jefferson was determined to set the record straight. He wrote a book of his own, filled with measurements of different American animals. But when he presented this book to Buffon in person, the Frenchman was unimpressed. Jefferson was living in France at the time, so he put his friend James Madison to work back home measuring moles and weighing weasels. He even got a friend from New Hampshire to ship him a dead moose (which arrived in France a bit worse for the wear). Buffon died before printing a retraction, but Jefferson continued his work to prove to Europeans that Americans and their animals were healthy and robust. Includes an afterword with additional information; some examples of Jefferson’s numbers; and lists of both primary and secondary sources. 48 pages; grades 2-5.

Pros: As she did in Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery That Baffled All of France, Mara Rockliff has written a fun, well-researched, and informative picture book in which a Founding Father takes on a Frenchman and blinds him with science. The excellent back matter makes this a great starting point for research.

Cons: While the illustrations were fun and perfectly adequate, I preferred the more distinctive ones in Mesmerized done by Iacopo Bruno, who also illustrated Rockliff’s Anything But Ordinary Addie.

When I was young, mathematics was the passion of my life.

Thomas Jefferson loved numbers and he liked that he could find truth in numbers. When Frenchman
Buffon had ridiculed America, Thomas Jefferson in his patriotic enthusiasm, went to set Buffon straight. If you child tends to love learning, they will love getting to know Thomas Jefferson and his funny antics.

A Special Thank you to Candlewick Press and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

This one didn't quite measure up for me. The pace was slow, and there was a contrast between the minimal and straightforward text and the set-in elements -- the latter likely will be hard for young readers to read. The backmatter shows Rockliff's trademark research, though -- wow.

I loved this book so much! What an amazing book! Encourage in your kids a love of learning, natural science, and math with the wonderful example of Thomas Jefferson! Maybe even inspire them to learn more about Thomas Jefferson - who would be a great example of the love of learning for anyone! This was a funny and informative book that kids will enjoy reading! The watercolor illustrations are also delightful! Children's Non-fiction excellently done!

5 stars!

Jefferson Measures a Moose takes a fascinating fact about one of our founding fathers and presents it in a way that combines math, history and a genuine quest for learning. Thomas Jefferson loved numbers and he loved counting things and asking questions. How much, how long, how far were questions he longed to answer about everything around him. This story focuses on his frustration with a French naturalist who described America's animals as small and weak. Jefferson set out to make an irrefutable record to prove him wrong. There are so many great STEM lessons that could be applied to this book. Lots of questions to be generated and answered. |How did James Madison measure a weasel? What would have been the best way to transport a moose to France?

As a librarian, I love the illustrations and how they accentuate each problem with a measurement tool. As a teacher, I find so many connections to be made with this picture book. I would definitely recommend this to all K-5 libraries and can see it being seamlessly integrated into math classes. Interesting books on measurement are already in high demand and this one allows you to link it with social studies and primary sources. I would use the Library of Congress resources to extend learning and discuss how our system of money came to be as well. Highly recommend.

Tells the story of how Jefferson used his love of numbers to educated Europeans about America. I enjoyed the humour, the language, the story and the illustrations. Well done all around.

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 were smaller in size and number than those of Europe. Jefferson would not let that allegation stand. The author writes:

“Jefferson was already quite busy with the Revolutionary War. Still, he found time to search for numbers to correct Buffon and tell the world what American was really like.”

He published a book in 1781, “Notes on the State of Virginia,” in which he challenged the theories of Buffon, providing all the data he could in order to, inter alia, compare the sizes of animals on both continents.

At the end of the American Revolution, Jefferson went to France as the representative of the new United States. He asked a friend to give his book to Buffon, but discovered the Frenchman remained unconvinced. So Jefferson wrote to James Madison, requesting he send a moose skeleton to him that he could show to Buffon. Alas, within six months of the arrival of the moose, Buffon was dead, and there is no evidence he changed his mind prior to his demise. The author notes however:

“But back home in the United States, Jefferson’s book became a BIG success. From then on, when Americans had any questions about numbers, they knew they could COUNT on Thomas Jefferson.”

In an Author’s Note at the conclusion of the book, Rockliff adds, “Jefferson never lost his love for numbers.” She then provides examples of some of the data Jefferson collected (such as how much a horse eats, how long did it take to grow a pea, and so on).

A list of sources follows.

Droll watercolor iIllustrations by S.D. Schindler ably reflect the historical period while adding humor and interest to the text.

Evaluation: The author uses an entertaining anecdote about Jefferson to stress the importance and value of science and data, a lesson that is, sadly, more needed than ever.