{"id":209,"date":"2023-01-10T23:01:16","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T23:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jennylacika.com\/?page_id=209"},"modified":"2026-03-24T19:19:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:19:24","slug":"measuring-up","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jennylacika.com\/home\/books\/measuring-up\/","title":{"rendered":"MEASURING UP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Measuring Up: How Oliver Smoot Became a Standard Unit of Measurement<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jenny Lacika
Illustrated by Anna Bron
Published by MIT Kids Press
Release Date: September 23, 2025
Hardcover ISBN: 9781536230123
Ebook ISBN: 9781536248715<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Best STEM Books K-12 published in 2025 – NSTA<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner of the inaugural MIT Press\/Candlewick Children\u2019s Book Award – MIT Press<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

75 Best Books of 2025 – The Boston Globe<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Science stories for young readers – Science<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fun way to introduce a nonstandard form of measurement. – KIRKUS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This unusual nonfiction picture book combines math, hijinks, and etymology\u2014a subject amalgamation readers don\u2019t encounter every day. – The Horn Book<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The text is presented in a clear, straightforward fashion, while illustrations smartly evoke 1950s style. – SLJ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could you be the next smoot? One MIT student\u2019s diminutive height becomes his mathematical superpower\u2014and claim to fame\u2014in a true story that\u2019s entertaining and inspiring in equal measure.<\/strong>

When the five-foot-seven-inch Oliver Smoot and his friends at MIT decided to play a practical joke, he drew the short straw\u2014and was selected to be the measurement device to carry it out. The task? Measuring the length of a bridge, one lying-down Oliver Smoot at a time. Author Jenny Lacika playfully introduces the idea of nonstandard measurement in this story about the creation of a new unit: the smoot. Anna Bron captures the hijinks of college kids having some fun, getting into trouble, and in the end, making math history. Measuring Up <\/em>invites readers over to the sillier side of mathematics and encourages them to play with measurement in their own lives. As for the smoot? This unorthodox unit of measure is now cemented into history, in sidewalk markings on a certain Cambridge-to-Boston bridge. Find out more about smoots, MIT pranks, unusual measurements, and further reading in the back matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Add to Goodreads<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Order Here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tips For Teachers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Measuring Up: How Oliver Smoot Became a Standard Unit of Measurement By Jenny LacikaIllustrated by Anna BronPublished by MIT Kids PressRelease Date: September 23, 2025Hardcover ISBN: 9781536230123Ebook ISBN: 9781536248715 Best STEM Books K-12 published in 2025 – NSTA Winner of the inaugural MIT Press\/Candlewick Children\u2019s Book Award – MIT Press 75 Best Books of 2025…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":17,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-209","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennylacika.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennylacika.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennylacika.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennylacika.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennylacika.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/jennylacika.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":775,"href":"https:\/\/jennylacika.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/209\/revisions\/775"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennylacika.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennylacika.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}