The Librarian Who Measured the Earth

Title: The Librarian Who Measured the Earth
Author: Kathryn Lasky
Major Themes: Eratosthenes, Geography, Greece, Egypt
Synopsis: Eratosthenes wondered about many things, and when he started wondering about the size of the earth, there was nothing for it but to figure it out himself.

When my older children were quite young, I went to the library a lot more often than I do now—we lived in an area with decent libraries. One of the books I remember finding was The Librarian Who Measured the Earth. I think it was one of the very first picture book biographies I ever came across, and I was very intrigued by it. I remembered it again a year or two ago, probably 18 years after first coming across it, but no library I have access to had it—and with the price of postage to New Zealand, I wasn’t going to buy a copy! Oh, well, I thought, I won’t be able to read this one to my younger children. Then, a few weeks ago, I found a copy on a friend’s bookshelf! Finally, we got to read it.

Eratosthenes was very smart and inquisitive, even as a baby. He wanted to know everything about everything around him—the stars, the sun, the wind, even the ants. He loved school, and constantly asked questions. As he grew older, he started writing things down and making lists. Then, he became a tutor to a prince. He really came into his own, however, when he began working in the Alexandria library.

Soon, Eratosthenes came up with a big question—how big was the earth? How could he measure it? Was it even possible to measure it? You will find his solution to this problem amazing, as well as how close he came to the currently known size!

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth is illustrated with gorgeous, full-color, very realistic paintings. Between them and the story, this is a wonderful book that all our children enjoyed looking at and reading or listening to. I’m happy to have found it on my friend’s shelf.

No warnings!