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Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Pizza Slice
With a dinnertime mystery and 5 hungry suspects, Charlie Piechart makes fractions fun.
Charlie Piechart has a piechart for a belly, and it’s a belly that’s perfect for showing fractions. In his first mystery, perfect for little math enthusiasts, it’s pizza night at the Piecharts’ house.
How about veggies on top? “NO VEGGIES!” yell 4/6 of the pizza eaters. No one wants anchovies, either. They like Charlie’s idea best: pepperoni.
But with 6 pizza eaters, 3 sizes of pizza on the delivery menu, and 2 slices allotted for each person, it is no surprise when there’s a mystery! A scream from Charlie’s sisters reveals the issue: 1 out of 12 slices has gone missing. So who did it? Charlie counts the suspects and questions each one (except Mom!). But could he be forgetting someone?
This colorful, hysterical mystery adventure is perfect for both reluctant and enthusiastic math learners. Great for fans of G Is for Googol, Sir Cumference and the First Round Table, and Math Curse.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts
Charlie Piechart has a piechart for a belly, and it’s a belly that’s perfect for showing fractions. In his first mystery, perfect for little math enthusiasts, it’s pizza night at the Piecharts’ house.
How about veggies on top? “NO VEGGIES!” yell 4/6 of the pizza eaters. No one wants anchovies, either. They like Charlie’s idea best: pepperoni.
But with 6 pizza eaters, 3 sizes of pizza on the delivery menu, and 2 slices allotted for each person, it is no surprise when there’s a mystery! A scream from Charlie’s sisters reveals the issue: 1 out of 12 slices has gone missing. So who did it? Charlie counts the suspects and questions each one (except Mom!). But could he be forgetting someone?
This colorful, hysterical mystery adventure is perfect for both reluctant and enthusiastic math learners. Great for fans of G Is for Googol, Sir Cumference and the First Round Table, and Math Curse.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts
40 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2015
53 people want to read
About the author
Marilyn Sadler
67 books47 followersWith a degree in fine arts, Marilyn Sadler assumed she would be an illustrator. But when early in her career she was presented with an opportunity to write, she seized it and quickly discovered that she had found her true love. No sad, sappy stories for her, however. She likes to make herself laugh, and with that her characters usually end up looking pretty silly for one reason or another.
Her first children’s book featured a fastidious little English boy named Alistair Grittle and was originally created for the English publisher, Hamish Hamilton, as well as for Simon & Schuster in the United States. Having created a boy with such perfect behavior, she then turned her attention to a not so perfectly behaved little boy. His name was P.J. Funnybunny, and he has existed in a series of books for Random House, including the highly prestigious Dr. Seuss Cat In the Hat series.
Marilyn’s television credits include two PBS Reading Rainbow programs featuring Alistair, an Alistair program for the BBC, three ABC Weekend Specials featuring P.J. Funnybunny, and a show based on her children’s book, "Elizabeth and Larry", for Showtime’s Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories.
Between 1999 and 2004, The Disney Channel produced three Original Movies based on her book, "Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century". Each of Disney’s Zenon movies had exceptionally high ratings, with Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century and Zenon the Zequel among the highest rated shows in the history of The Disney Channel.
In 2004, Playhouse Disney began production on Marilyn and Roger Bollen's animated series, Handy Manny. Handy Manny premiered September 16, 2006, as the highest rated Playhouse Disney series premiere of all time. In 2009, Marilyn was nominated for an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of Handy Manny.
Her first children’s book featured a fastidious little English boy named Alistair Grittle and was originally created for the English publisher, Hamish Hamilton, as well as for Simon & Schuster in the United States. Having created a boy with such perfect behavior, she then turned her attention to a not so perfectly behaved little boy. His name was P.J. Funnybunny, and he has existed in a series of books for Random House, including the highly prestigious Dr. Seuss Cat In the Hat series.
Marilyn’s television credits include two PBS Reading Rainbow programs featuring Alistair, an Alistair program for the BBC, three ABC Weekend Specials featuring P.J. Funnybunny, and a show based on her children’s book, "Elizabeth and Larry", for Showtime’s Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories.
Between 1999 and 2004, The Disney Channel produced three Original Movies based on her book, "Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century". Each of Disney’s Zenon movies had exceptionally high ratings, with Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century and Zenon the Zequel among the highest rated shows in the history of The Disney Channel.
In 2004, Playhouse Disney began production on Marilyn and Roger Bollen's animated series, Handy Manny. Handy Manny premiered September 16, 2006, as the highest rated Playhouse Disney series premiere of all time. In 2009, Marilyn was nominated for an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of Handy Manny.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
March 4, 2017
Love the story, but the art is FANTASTIC! Kind of retro-advertising...took me back.
November 16, 2015
Great intro to teaching fractions!
April 12, 2017
A fun way to introduce fractions to young readers
October 8, 2015
This mystery involves 12 slices of pizza, 6 people, a dog, and a whole lot of fun! Charlie Piechart and his best friend Lewis are deciding on dinner with Charlie's family. After deciding on a a large pepperoni pizza, a piece goes missing! Charlie uses his detective skills to determine who took the missing piece of pizza in this extremely colorful, fraction-friendly picture book.
A fun activity for this would revolve mostly around learning basic fractions, which may be difficult for very young learners but will most likely work for grades 1-3. I would give each child some laminated fractions with Velcro on the back and have a wall with coordinating Velcro pictures (a good idea would be to photocopy and use images from the book) that the children can match the fractions to.
Comstock, E., & Sadler, M. (2015). Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Pizza Slice. New York, New York: HarperCollins.
A fun activity for this would revolve mostly around learning basic fractions, which may be difficult for very young learners but will most likely work for grades 1-3. I would give each child some laminated fractions with Velcro on the back and have a wall with coordinating Velcro pictures (a good idea would be to photocopy and use images from the book) that the children can match the fractions to.
Comstock, E., & Sadler, M. (2015). Charlie Piechart and the Case of the Missing Pizza Slice. New York, New York: HarperCollins.
August 24, 2015
A fun way to introduce or get to know more about fractions. Pizza is always a good subject, what to put on top another universal theme and who ate one slice? Probably a problem in many families with sneaky/hungry family members. The illustrations are simple and quirky, focusing on just the details that we need to know. Lots of humor here, using a burb as a test to see who might have taken the slice, and a fart (visualized, not mentioned) does betray the culprit. Kids will enjoy this and have lots of experience with fractions too.
September 20, 2015
Genre: Picture books, Math books
Published: 2015
Charlie is trying to solve the mystery of the missing pizza slice. Great book that is focused around fractions and would be the perfect addition for when students are learning about fractions.
Published: 2015
Charlie is trying to solve the mystery of the missing pizza slice. Great book that is focused around fractions and would be the perfect addition for when students are learning about fractions.
September 13, 2015
What a fun way to talk about fractions!
November 28, 2015
Grades 2-5. Great mentor text for math workshop. Quality illustrations show fractions both with the pizza and through solving a mystery eliminating a growing fraction of the suspects.
October 28, 2015
Interesting picture book with a story involving fractions! Not to mention the lovely illustrations. I liked it a lot.
November 27, 2015
I love this book!!!
December 19, 2015
Variety of fractions worked in to story. Could be helpful reinforcement. Also Math/Liturature nominations. Use as a model, then have older students devise a book with examples.
December 23, 2015
Mystery where Charlie Piechart tries to solve who ate the missing pizza slice.
March 10, 2016
Good fractions book for kids. Cute dog in the story.
March 18, 2016
perfection
July 13, 2016
Super cute book to introduce fractions. Could incorporate into early math lessons.
October 17, 2016
incorporates fractions in an easily digestible way.
December 31, 2016
Not really a mystery but a good problem solving book for fractions.
September 8, 2018
This book is great to use when wanting to incorporate it into other lessons. The book is based off of using fractions, which is where it can be used in a math lesson. In the book, the main character wants to invite a friend over for pizza, but has four friends. He decides that he can only chose 1/4 of the friends and picks Lewis, his closest friend. When he wants to order pizza, he sees that there are six people eating and he needs to get a big enough size for everyone. They get a pizza with twelve slices so that everyone can have two, or 2/12. Eventually, one of the pieces goes missing and they spend some time trying to figure out who ate the missing slice. This book is not for beginner readers, but still great.
August 8, 2023
My second Charlie Piechart storybook? I'm nearly drooling.
A favorite quote:
"Alice and Kate were 2 out of 2 suspects left.
Charlie was sure they were in it together.
Little sisters were always guilty. To be sure,
Charlie had them do the burp test.
Then he heard their stomachs growl."
Such a clever whodunit!
FIVE STARS to Eric Comstock, co-author and illustrator; and also to Marilyn Sadler, co-author.
A favorite quote:
"Alice and Kate were 2 out of 2 suspects left.
Charlie was sure they were in it together.
Little sisters were always guilty. To be sure,
Charlie had them do the burp test.
Then he heard their stomachs growl."
Such a clever whodunit!
FIVE STARS to Eric Comstock, co-author and illustrator; and also to Marilyn Sadler, co-author.
December 5, 2018
a one on one recommandation not a storytime book about a boy whose family orders pizza for the night and then one piece is missing. He hunts down the early eater. Fractions and pictures used throughout the book.
September 13, 2018
fraction math story
July 30, 2025
A great book to read in a classroom to go along with learning fractions!
April 24, 2016
This one is a MYSTERY, and so O.K. You know how some fact books have a dictionary [word list] at the end so you can look at what all the big words mean after you read it? Well, THIS one has FRACTIONS at the end.
So if you get confused by all the math, don't worry. You can look it up at the end.
This one was drawn kind of sloppy but it was O.K. It's just that fractions are confusing. But I wouldn't want to read a FACT book about fractions, so this one was O.K.
I knew that that dog ate the pizza, so how come Charlie couldn't figure it out? He might know fractions but he's a lousy detective.
I guess this one was all right.
So if you get confused by all the math, don't worry. You can look it up at the end.
This one was drawn kind of sloppy but it was O.K. It's just that fractions are confusing. But I wouldn't want to read a FACT book about fractions, so this one was O.K.
I knew that that dog ate the pizza, so how come Charlie couldn't figure it out? He might know fractions but he's a lousy detective.
I guess this one was all right.
January 20, 2016
Fun with fractions! Charlie Piechart solves a mystery. For introducing kids to fractions, this book is great because it is more fun than a text book. As simply a book to read for fun, though, the use of fractions throughout is distracting.
Grades 1-3
Grades 1-3
October 15, 2015
Has great potential for classroom use with teaching fractions. But could have used some more fractions on each page, and the story itself was dull.
December 27, 2015
A mystery that will help children learn fractions.
January 15, 2016
This is actually not too painful for a clearly educational book. I like it! I could actually use it in a "Pizza"-themed storytime without wincing or watching tiny eyes glaze over. Hurrah!
November 16, 2016
A fun mystery book that makes fractions very simple for young children to understand. Plenty of review in fun and different ways.
September 18, 2017
A nice gentle intro to fractions with a humorous twist.
September 1, 2015
Fun with fractions while sleuthing a mystery.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews