Measuring Up: How Oliver Smoot Became a Standard Unit of Measurement
Hardcover – Picture Book, September 23, 2025
Candlewick Press · Hardcover · September 23, 2025
Could you be the next smoot?
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- Who it’s for
- Oliver Smoot’s college prank introduces a homegrown unit of measurement—and its place in mathematical history.
- Themes
- Nonstandard measurement, Mathematical history, Practical jokes
- Genres
- Math, Measures & Weights, Science & Tech Biographies for Kids
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Could you be the next smoot? One MIT student’s diminutive height becomes his mathematical superpower—and claim to fame—in a true story that’s entertaining and inspiring in equal measure. When the five-foot-seven-inch Oliver Smoot and his friends at MIT decided to play a practical joke, he drew the short straw—and 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.
Continue reading
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 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.
The Smoot Unit
Oliver Smoot’s college prank introduces a homegrown unit of measurement—and its place in mathematical history.
Come here for
- Oliver Smoot’s bridge-measuring prank
- A playful introduction to nonstandard measurement
Expect
- Sidewalk markings on a Cambridge-to-Boston bridge
- Further reading and notes on unusual measurements
Where it sits
| Science & Tech Biographies for Kids | 65% |
|---|---|
| Measures & Weights | 62% |
| Math | 61% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Arithmetic
- Science Projects & Experiments
- Measures & Weights
- Authors
- Jenny Lacika
- Publisher
- Candlewick Press
- Published
- September 23, 2025
- Format
- Hardcover
- Theme
- Nonstandard measurement · Mathematical history · Practical jokes
- Reading lane
- Arithmetic