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How Much Is a Million?
“A jubilant, original picture book.” —Booklist (starred review)
Ever wonder just what a million of something means? How about a billion? Or a trillion? Marvelosissimo the mathematical magician can teach you!
How Much Is a Million? knocks complex numbers down to size in a fun, humorous way, helping children conceptualize a difficult mathematical concept. It's a math class you'll never forget.
This classic picture book is an ALA Notable Book, a Reading Rainbow Feature Selection, and a Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Book for Illustration.
The repackage of this fun look at math concepts includes a letter from the author that features several ways for children to find a million everyday things.
Ever wonder just what a million of something means? How about a billion? Or a trillion? Marvelosissimo the mathematical magician can teach you!
How Much Is a Million? knocks complex numbers down to size in a fun, humorous way, helping children conceptualize a difficult mathematical concept. It's a math class you'll never forget.
This classic picture book is an ALA Notable Book, a Reading Rainbow Feature Selection, and a Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Book for Illustration.
The repackage of this fun look at math concepts includes a letter from the author that features several ways for children to find a million everyday things.
40 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
26 people are currently reading
1696 people want to read
About the author
David M. Schwartz
85 books28 followers As a child, I was filled with a sense of awe as I contemplated the universe. The huge numbers of stars and their sizes and distances never failed to amaze me. With binoculars and magnifying glass, I also focused on closer subjects like birds, flowers, frogs and bugs.
But science and math weren't my only fascinations: I also loved bicycles, baseball, boats…and ice cream. Years later, on a clear spring night, I looked up at the sky and a shower of memories descended. I suddenly remembered my childhood awe at the wonders of space.
That night I was inspired to write my first book, How Much Is a Million? Now, almost 50 books later, I spend much of my time finding unusual, whimsical ways to make math and science come alive for kids and teachers, both through my writing, and through speaking at schools and conferences. I also write science articles for magazines, especially Smithsonian, and to do the research I've made exciting trips to some of the more remote corners of several continents. I've been to Africa to study hippos, to South America to visit an indigenous tribe living in the rain forest, and to far northern Scotland to track illegal egg collectors. But I still love the land outside my door in northern California, and the same distant stars that inspired me years ago.
from http://www.davidschwartz.com/about_da...
But science and math weren't my only fascinations: I also loved bicycles, baseball, boats…and ice cream. Years later, on a clear spring night, I looked up at the sky and a shower of memories descended. I suddenly remembered my childhood awe at the wonders of space.
That night I was inspired to write my first book, How Much Is a Million? Now, almost 50 books later, I spend much of my time finding unusual, whimsical ways to make math and science come alive for kids and teachers, both through my writing, and through speaking at schools and conferences. I also write science articles for magazines, especially Smithsonian, and to do the research I've made exciting trips to some of the more remote corners of several continents. I've been to Africa to study hippos, to South America to visit an indigenous tribe living in the rain forest, and to far northern Scotland to track illegal egg collectors. But I still love the land outside my door in northern California, and the same distant stars that inspired me years ago.
from http://www.davidschwartz.com/about_da...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 311 reviews
February 20, 2019
This is one I’ve raised my kids on. We did a reread tonight.
September 7, 2019
We had this book when I was growing up and I was fascinated with it. I took it out from the library to read to my son and while he's a bit young to grasp the concept of a million, he still enjoyed the story. I really like Kellogg's illustrations. The only thing I don't like is that the text is set in all caps. Why?
October 11, 2020
This book aimed at elementary school kids tries to convey just how big a million, billion and a trillion are, by using several examples (height of x kids, a bowl for x goldfish, x number of stars). A very decent attempt, since such large numbers are so big, even to adults they are (almost) abstract.
What I personally loved, were the last pages, in which the author justifies his examples with actual mathematics.
What I personally loved, were the last pages, in which the author justifies his examples with actual mathematics.
May 22, 2011
I have actually first heard of this book through “Weston Woods” and I have enjoyed it ever since! “How Much Is a Million?” is a mathematical children's book by David M. Schwartz along with illustrations by Steven Kellogg and it is about how Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician shows kids how much it would take to count to a million! “How Much Is a Million?” is a truly brilliant book for children who want to learn more about mathematics!
This book basically explains about how much a million would be and here is one of the excerpts from the book that explains about how much a million really is:
“If you wanted to count from one to one million, it would take you about twenty-three days.”
Wow! This book was simply amazing! David M. Schwartz has done an excellent job at helping children explore the wonders of math! I loved how David M. Schwartz used a magician in the story to help show a group of kids about how a million is measured as it was interesting seeing how a million is measured whether seeing how big a goldfish bowl has to be to fit a million goldfish or how many days it would take to count to a million without stopping. What really help me understand the mathematics used in this book was how David M. Schwartz provided well-thought out calculations at the end of the book. When I first read this book, I thought that the numbers used in this book to describe how much time or space is used when counting to a million were exaggerated and were meant to just humor children. However, when I looked at the back of the book and saw David M. Schwartz's calculations, I realized that these numbers were actually true and that really shocked me! I also loved the way that David M. Schwartz made the text be shown in uppercase letters throughout the book because it really brings out the creativity of this book and it made the book much more interesting to read about. Steven Kellogg's illustrations are extremely creative and beautiful and what I really loved about the illustrations was how it showed all kinds of kids participating in measuring a million. My favorite images in this book was of the tower of a million kids and how they would be able to reach the tallest buildings, the highest mountain and farther up then planes can fly and I also loved the image of the kids growing older whenever it takes them days to count to a million.
Overall, “How Much Is a Million?” is a truly brilliant book about counting that children will love to read over and over again for the pleasure of knowing how much a million really is! I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.
This book basically explains about how much a million would be and here is one of the excerpts from the book that explains about how much a million really is:
“If you wanted to count from one to one million, it would take you about twenty-three days.”
Wow! This book was simply amazing! David M. Schwartz has done an excellent job at helping children explore the wonders of math! I loved how David M. Schwartz used a magician in the story to help show a group of kids about how a million is measured as it was interesting seeing how a million is measured whether seeing how big a goldfish bowl has to be to fit a million goldfish or how many days it would take to count to a million without stopping. What really help me understand the mathematics used in this book was how David M. Schwartz provided well-thought out calculations at the end of the book. When I first read this book, I thought that the numbers used in this book to describe how much time or space is used when counting to a million were exaggerated and were meant to just humor children. However, when I looked at the back of the book and saw David M. Schwartz's calculations, I realized that these numbers were actually true and that really shocked me! I also loved the way that David M. Schwartz made the text be shown in uppercase letters throughout the book because it really brings out the creativity of this book and it made the book much more interesting to read about. Steven Kellogg's illustrations are extremely creative and beautiful and what I really loved about the illustrations was how it showed all kinds of kids participating in measuring a million. My favorite images in this book was of the tower of a million kids and how they would be able to reach the tallest buildings, the highest mountain and farther up then planes can fly and I also loved the image of the kids growing older whenever it takes them days to count to a million.
Overall, “How Much Is a Million?” is a truly brilliant book about counting that children will love to read over and over again for the pleasure of knowing how much a million really is! I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.
October 19, 2009
Brief summary: This book is about a explaining the magnitude of the number: one million. It goes through different scenarios that involve the number so that children can better understand that a million is huge.Genre: non-fiction, informational guide to understanding concepts
Reading Level: This book is for transitional readers because the text placement is varied and there are multiple lines on most pages. There is a mixture of regular and some harder words, which were mostly one or two syllables. There are also some unfamiliar concepts in language including stadium, and presto.
Topic: mathematic awareness, connecting information
Curriculum Uses: I would use this book for a read aloud or to support a math lesson about understanding the magnitude of the larger numbers such as a million and a billion. This would also make a good reference book for my library.
Literary Elements: This author includes many similes in this book such as: as big as a stadium, and as big as a city harbor. The author also uses imagery to help the children imagine the size of each of the number in realistic terms. The repetition of the word way in the book helps readers comprehend how far beyond the moon that the tower of children would reach. Also, the tone that the author establishes helps the readers to form a positive attitude about understanding math.
Social Issues: This book does not address specific social issues; it just discusses concepts.
Illustrations & Text: The illustrations in this book help support the text somewhat closely because they depict the concepts that the text is addressing. The characters in each illustration add life to the book and convey happiness, which helps the readers maintain a positive demeanor while reading the book.
Reading Level: This book is for transitional readers because the text placement is varied and there are multiple lines on most pages. There is a mixture of regular and some harder words, which were mostly one or two syllables. There are also some unfamiliar concepts in language including stadium, and presto.
Topic: mathematic awareness, connecting information
Curriculum Uses: I would use this book for a read aloud or to support a math lesson about understanding the magnitude of the larger numbers such as a million and a billion. This would also make a good reference book for my library.
Literary Elements: This author includes many similes in this book such as: as big as a stadium, and as big as a city harbor. The author also uses imagery to help the children imagine the size of each of the number in realistic terms. The repetition of the word way in the book helps readers comprehend how far beyond the moon that the tower of children would reach. Also, the tone that the author establishes helps the readers to form a positive attitude about understanding math.
Social Issues: This book does not address specific social issues; it just discusses concepts.
Illustrations & Text: The illustrations in this book help support the text somewhat closely because they depict the concepts that the text is addressing. The characters in each illustration add life to the book and convey happiness, which helps the readers maintain a positive demeanor while reading the book.
November 23, 2021
First off, I love Steven Kellogg. Even if I didn't love everything else about this book, it would love on my shelf because of his illustrations. Lively, vibrant, creative drawings that make me look harder and deeper for the detail I missed last time- I love it.
This book tackles something we, as college students, were just discussing recently. How to get a grasp of these big numbers. One million. One billion. One trillion. You hear it all the time, "If I had a million dollars," "there must be a billion stars up there," "I love you a trillion." We know it means a lot. We know you have to double-check the number of zeros because there are too many to just recognize. But the reality that it would take 95 years to count to a billion seems ridiculous- unbelievable. A trillion kids on each other's shoulders would almost take you to Saturn! No way. But David Schwartz takes us on that journey.
Schwartz and Kellogg brilliantly feature a wizard to drive the impossible feat of a million kids on each other's shoulders, reaching into space. Bringing magic and mathematics together to make it delightful, make connections, and create a sense of wonder.
And then, the kicker. So, we are left, after reading the book, in awe and disbelief. There's no way a trillion stars on a piece of paper would go from New York to New Zealand! But, at the end of the book, Schwartz lays out the math for us, allowing the reader to double-check his math and to try to solve different problems using those equations- how many stars are there between my grandma and me? how many goldfish could live in the Atlantic Ocean?
The simple format of the book makes finding patterns and logical next steps easy to anticipate and follow. Overall, I think this is a perfect book to demonstrate the enormity of millions, billions, and trillions.
(Perhaps a fun book to read along Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag to think about the preposterousness of that book :))
This book tackles something we, as college students, were just discussing recently. How to get a grasp of these big numbers. One million. One billion. One trillion. You hear it all the time, "If I had a million dollars," "there must be a billion stars up there," "I love you a trillion." We know it means a lot. We know you have to double-check the number of zeros because there are too many to just recognize. But the reality that it would take 95 years to count to a billion seems ridiculous- unbelievable. A trillion kids on each other's shoulders would almost take you to Saturn! No way. But David Schwartz takes us on that journey.
Schwartz and Kellogg brilliantly feature a wizard to drive the impossible feat of a million kids on each other's shoulders, reaching into space. Bringing magic and mathematics together to make it delightful, make connections, and create a sense of wonder.
And then, the kicker. So, we are left, after reading the book, in awe and disbelief. There's no way a trillion stars on a piece of paper would go from New York to New Zealand! But, at the end of the book, Schwartz lays out the math for us, allowing the reader to double-check his math and to try to solve different problems using those equations- how many stars are there between my grandma and me? how many goldfish could live in the Atlantic Ocean?
The simple format of the book makes finding patterns and logical next steps easy to anticipate and follow. Overall, I think this is a perfect book to demonstrate the enormity of millions, billions, and trillions.
(Perhaps a fun book to read along Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag to think about the preposterousness of that book :))
September 7, 2019
This is a fun book that plays with the number million. It teaches how big the number is. For example it would take 23 days to count to a million and it would take a bowl as big as a stadium to fit a million goldfish. My son went through a stage of everything being a million and we enjoy reading this book and comparing how many small things would make up a million. It puts it in perspective in a fun way.
May 1, 2021
This is a great book to get kids interested in numbers and thinking in a big picture way. The author includes how he calculated al of his math, taking kids though complicated equations in a clear and concise way. I wish I had discovered it as a child
November 20, 2019
Great book showing how much a million is that kids can understand!
July 2, 2020
Brilliant book. A great concept to teach children about larger numbers which dwell outside their grasp.
June 16, 2021
Features some very nice art.
March 31, 2022
The current "please read it again" for both my two- and five year old. It is sort of an earlier version of "Your Place in the Universe" in that it assists with understanding scale and the relative size of things/numbers. A truly remarkable book.
July 21, 2023
Open Library.
September 9, 2016
I like what this book is going for, even though (IMO) it utterly fails. The problem is, you just can't conceive of a trillion. A million, maybe. A billion, doubtful but possible. A trillion, forget it. The book attempts to convey the relative scale of these numbers via how big a goldfish bowl w/ that many goldfish would be, how tall a human ladder with that many humans would be, etc. One step away from using "football fields" or "pencils stacked end to end." The metaphors are kinda tired and I don't think they have much explanatory power.
At Google the more hardcore performance minded people definitely did seem to have a strong grasp of scale... like how long it takes to read from CPU cache vs RAM vs disk vs over local network in same datacenter vs end to end internet trip to across the world... totally different scales but they had an intuitive understanding coupled w/ the ability to reason about the interaction across these scales
Maybe my imagination is just weak. I always thought so
But a trillion is just too big. If you tell me you can conceive of a trillion I don't believe you
(A goldfish bowl big enough to hold a trillion goldfish would be the size of a city harbor. Who cares.)
Also they say a million little stars would take 70 pages to show, and they show 4 consecutive pages of stars but then stop. What a rip!! If you're gonna start down that road I expect the full 70 pages of stars.
Anyway, it was nice to read a book that wasn't the same old anthropomorphic blah blah
At Google the more hardcore performance minded people definitely did seem to have a strong grasp of scale... like how long it takes to read from CPU cache vs RAM vs disk vs over local network in same datacenter vs end to end internet trip to across the world... totally different scales but they had an intuitive understanding coupled w/ the ability to reason about the interaction across these scales
Maybe my imagination is just weak. I always thought so
But a trillion is just too big. If you tell me you can conceive of a trillion I don't believe you
(A goldfish bowl big enough to hold a trillion goldfish would be the size of a city harbor. Who cares.)
Also they say a million little stars would take 70 pages to show, and they show 4 consecutive pages of stars but then stop. What a rip!! If you're gonna start down that road I expect the full 70 pages of stars.
Anyway, it was nice to read a book that wasn't the same old anthropomorphic blah blah
May 18, 2010
My six-year-old is insatiable about numbers right now, and this book absolutely hits the spot. It is mind-blowing, as the illustrations (Stephen Kellogg is a favorite of mine) and narrative effectively explore VERY large numbers that you sometimes hear thrown around in the news. Here you will learn that a trillion (a thousand billion) really is tremendous.
A sample...
That is just the beginning of the journey.
As you read the notes from the author at the conclusion of the book, you find that he has even taken into account that it takes about six seconds to fully annunciate the number 369,472,888,227. Pull out your stopwatch and give it a try. :o)
All of his math calculations, including his data that the average height of a elementary school pupil is 4'8", are also found in the author's notes. It is fascinating! I want to recommend this book to my older sister, my brother, Eric, and any other math nerds out there.
A sample...
If one million kids climbed onto one another's shoulders, they would be... taller than the tallest buildings, higher than the highest mountains, and farther up than airplanes can fly. If you wanted to count from one to one million.... it would take you about 23 days.
That is just the beginning of the journey.
As you read the notes from the author at the conclusion of the book, you find that he has even taken into account that it takes about six seconds to fully annunciate the number 369,472,888,227. Pull out your stopwatch and give it a try. :o)
All of his math calculations, including his data that the average height of a elementary school pupil is 4'8", are also found in the author's notes. It is fascinating! I want to recommend this book to my older sister, my brother, Eric, and any other math nerds out there.
December 8, 2019
This book offers a fun and imaginative way to describe just how big a million, a billion and a trillion are using concrete figures of a child's height, time, a quantity of water, and pages of stars to illustrate the somewhat abstract concept of such large numbers.
The information was mind-blowing and the illustrations are fun. We are looking forward to reading If You Made a Million and On Beyond a Million: An Amazing Math Journey by this author.
This book was featured as one of the selections for the October 2019: Celebrating Steven Kellogg discussion at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books group here at Goodreads.
The information was mind-blowing and the illustrations are fun. We are looking forward to reading If You Made a Million and On Beyond a Million: An Amazing Math Journey by this author.
This book was featured as one of the selections for the October 2019: Celebrating Steven Kellogg discussion at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books group here at Goodreads.
March 7, 2012
How many years would it take you to count to one million? One billion? One trillion? What if you wanted to find a goldfish bowl big enough to hold a million or a billion or a trillion gold fish? This humorous, but accurate book follows a group of kids and Marvelosissimo, the Mathematical Magician, to answers these questions.
The illustrations show energetic children amazed at the sights Marvelosissimo shows them. The pictures are full of movement, splashing whales, climbing children. I also love that the wizard and kids travel in a hot air balloon with their pets, a unicorn, 2 cats, and a dog!
The text is concise and full of alliteration, “How tremendous is a trillion?” And it shows Schwartz great enthusiastic for the subject. Using comparisons, the text makes these large numbers accessible. Schwartz also includes an author’s note at the end of the book, which explains the calculations he used.
Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...
The illustrations show energetic children amazed at the sights Marvelosissimo shows them. The pictures are full of movement, splashing whales, climbing children. I also love that the wizard and kids travel in a hot air balloon with their pets, a unicorn, 2 cats, and a dog!
The text is concise and full of alliteration, “How tremendous is a trillion?” And it shows Schwartz great enthusiastic for the subject. Using comparisons, the text makes these large numbers accessible. Schwartz also includes an author’s note at the end of the book, which explains the calculations he used.
Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...
June 24, 2017
Kindergarteners make an excellent reading audience. At tutoring every week, we primarily practice letter, number, and quantity recognition with the group of students, so when I found How Much is a Million? on the Title 1 bookshelf, it was an ideal break-out when their attentions drifted away from the white board work.
This is a good concept book, and I was already thinking of how I could write an interactive reading lesson plan around it (probably with the focus of fantasy v. reality or repetition). What I liked about it, along with the whimsical artwork, was how it presented and encouraged number sense. Writing down "100" and knowing that it represents 100 items are two seperate concepts.
Mostly, I was just happy that the students sat through the entire book. They are wiggly, as kindergarteners should be.
This is a good concept book, and I was already thinking of how I could write an interactive reading lesson plan around it (probably with the focus of fantasy v. reality or repetition). What I liked about it, along with the whimsical artwork, was how it presented and encouraged number sense. Writing down "100" and knowing that it represents 100 items are two seperate concepts.
Mostly, I was just happy that the students sat through the entire book. They are wiggly, as kindergarteners should be.
May 1, 2010
Have you ever wondered how much really is a million? Well if you read this book, you can stop wondering. This book talks about how a million would look in many different forms. In the form of stars and then in the form of items on the Earth. I would love to have this book in my classroom and no matter what age, I would love to talk to the children about numbers. When talking about numbers you can talk about small numbers a lot, but we never really talk about big numbers, numbers that seem intangible to us. So when we talk abut big numbers, we can read this book, and this would let the children see how tangible a million would be. This is pretty close.
October 7, 2019
I first read this many years ago. I really liked how Schwartz made such a large numbers at least somewhat understandable for young children. The back matter is wonderful to help the adults to understand the concepts as well, and how he did his calculations. And those 7 pages of teensy weensy stars! (Did they have copy and paste in 1985?) Once again, I love all the details that Kellogg puts into his illustrations. Only one observation--a wrap-up sentence or two on a page before the back matter would have been nice. Otherwise, it's a funny and interesting concept book.
November 1, 2015
Had lunch with the author today.
A really good description of orders of magnitude using things children can relate too (children standing on shoulders, the time to count, goldfish and stars in the book)
http://pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2015...
A really good description of orders of magnitude using things children can relate too (children standing on shoulders, the time to count, goldfish and stars in the book)
http://pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2015...
May 11, 2012
I love this math book. Fun!
March 15, 2024
I really liked how the author explained their calculations at the end.
March 29, 2023
How Much is a Million? is a fun and imaginative story about ways to describe just how big a million, a billion and a trillion are. They use examples of a children's height, time, the volume of water, and quantity of stars to illustrate the abstract concept of such large numbers. As children consider millions, billions, and trillions to be very big numbers, this story easily shows them the difference between the three values. It's a great way to conceptualize a difficult mathematical concept when teaching to young students. Seeing the large range through visualization makes it so much easier to comprehend for those of all ages. Who knew that a million seconds is 23 days, a billion seconds is 95 years, and a trillion seconds is around 200,000 years?
A lot of the illustrations are presented on double-spread pages. They are enchanting and go along with the magical vibe, utilizing elements of learning and asking questions. The book's colorful ink and watercolor illustrations on each of the pages help create these extreme and imaginative pictures. Imagine drawing a billion stars or even a whole city harbor! The use of the color yellow, meant that there was magic at work by the magician. We see how they use the same concept and pattern between all of the values. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would likely to use it in own my classroom to help young kids understand place values and the value of a million.
A lot of the illustrations are presented on double-spread pages. They are enchanting and go along with the magical vibe, utilizing elements of learning and asking questions. The book's colorful ink and watercolor illustrations on each of the pages help create these extreme and imaginative pictures. Imagine drawing a billion stars or even a whole city harbor! The use of the color yellow, meant that there was magic at work by the magician. We see how they use the same concept and pattern between all of the values. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would likely to use it in own my classroom to help young kids understand place values and the value of a million.
May 12, 2023
This book is nonfiction and is intended for children ages four to eight. It is an ALA Notable Book and a Reading Rainbow Feature Selection. This book uses examples and imagery to demonstrate just how much a million is. There are several reasons why I rated this five stars. First of all, it uses kids as its primary example. It also incorporates some fun science-fiction elements, such as a wizard and a unicorn, which would make it appealing to young readers. By doing this, it is clear that the author took every opportunity to present the ideas in the most interesting and child-friendly way that he could. It may be a nonfiction book with a focus on number values, but Schwartz still manages to make it a captivating read for kids. Another great aspect of the book is the fantastic illustrations. Kellogg focused on textures and shading, as opposed to individual shapes. He made use of every possible color to create scenes that are mesmerizing and wildly expressive. The narrative would be nothing without them, but together, they make a huge impact. When working with children, this can be used to emphasize the immense value of large numbers like one million, one billion, etc.
(eBook)
(5/12/2023)
(eBook)
(5/12/2023)
September 21, 2023
“How Much Is A Million?” is one of the books that was given to me to read back in 5th grade science. Conceptually the book tries to bring to life the grandness of how big numbers are compared to real objects. Starting at 1 million and going all the way up to 1 trillion. One of the things that stood out to me when reading this was how it took and idea that was nonsense and tried to make it realistic. For example, “If you put a trillion goldfish in a goldfish bowl, the bowl would have to be as big as a city harbor” (p.35,36). Where in my mind that does not make sense, as it is hard to comprehend how many fish that is or how much water that is. Excellently enough, not only does it take nonsense and have it make sense but also has the proof of concept. As on the last page of the book there is a note from the author that has whole “arithmetic journey” (p.40) of the story. When comparing this book to the avg children picturebook I would say it’s longer than other math picturebooks a have read with 42 pages in total. But even with how longer page length this mathematical wonder of a book would be a great addition to any 4th grade to 6th grade math or science class trying to get across the concept of “how much is million”.
December 1, 2017
This book is a nonfiction book for children from prek- 2nd grade. This book has won several awards including Reading Rainbow Book, Horn Book Fanfare,Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book, Beehive Award (Utah), Bank Street Children's Book Award, ALA Notable Children's Book, ALA Booklist Editors' Choice. This book is all about counting to extremely large numbers like one million, one billion and one trillion. Not only does it talk about counting it tells you what it would look like if there were that many children or other objects. This book is fantastic. The visuals along with the playful words really helps children to forget that this is a math based book. It helps put very large numbers into concrete concepts that children can grasp such as children stacked on top of each other and how high they would reach. I think this book probably would appeal to children who enjoy numbers however I see this book more useful in the classroom setting.
12/1/17
12/1/17
November 11, 2019
Such a fun book to use for children who are learning about big numbers! This book is about showing a visual representation of how much the number one million is, one billion and one trillion. I felt happy while reading this book because it amazes me how large the number one million is. I never really think of that number but seeing how many days it would take to count to that number is crazy! My favorite part of the book was when it showed like three pages of a describing a small example of what it would be like of seeing one million tiny stars, but it would take sixty seven more pages to reach that number. This book would be great for younger classrooms when learning how to count and learning about large numbers. It allows students to get multiple ideas of what it would be like getting to one million by using counting, stacking children, using fishes, using stars, and using mileages of lengths of cities.
October 12, 2018
Summary:
This book makes it fun to understand math. It explains what it really means to have a million or even more or less. This book uses great examples like if one million kids climbed into one another’s shoulders they would be taller than the tallest building. They make it fun and they have great pictures that go along with what is being said.
Like or not:
I really like this book. I didn’t think nonfiction picture books were a thing and then I came across this book and I think it is so fun and different and you are learning while you are reading it.
Classroom:
I would use this book in my classroom if I was going to do a math lesson understanding place values and understanding what a million really is. This could bring math over to reading which always makes math a better subject when it involves anything that is not math
This book makes it fun to understand math. It explains what it really means to have a million or even more or less. This book uses great examples like if one million kids climbed into one another’s shoulders they would be taller than the tallest building. They make it fun and they have great pictures that go along with what is being said.
Like or not:
I really like this book. I didn’t think nonfiction picture books were a thing and then I came across this book and I think it is so fun and different and you are learning while you are reading it.
Classroom:
I would use this book in my classroom if I was going to do a math lesson understanding place values and understanding what a million really is. This could bring math over to reading which always makes math a better subject when it involves anything that is not math
April 18, 2020
Nonfiction (Concept Book)
Awards:
ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice
ALA Notable Children’s Book
Bank Street Children's Book Award
Beehive Award (Utah)
Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor Book
Horn Book Fanfare
Reading Rainbow Book
Audience: Grades 1-5
-Topic: This books teaches just how much the number one million is. It uses concepts that children understand as comparisons so that they understand just how big the number is.
-Topic is presented in a friendly way by using inviting illustrations and similes and metaphors that children would understand.
-This book would be used with children in their math classes when learning about larger numbers. I remember my 4th grade math teacher read us this book when we started talking about really big numbers and it really helped us understand just how big numbers could go!
Awards:
ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice
ALA Notable Children’s Book
Bank Street Children's Book Award
Beehive Award (Utah)
Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor Book
Horn Book Fanfare
Reading Rainbow Book
Audience: Grades 1-5
-Topic: This books teaches just how much the number one million is. It uses concepts that children understand as comparisons so that they understand just how big the number is.
-Topic is presented in a friendly way by using inviting illustrations and similes and metaphors that children would understand.
-This book would be used with children in their math classes when learning about larger numbers. I remember my 4th grade math teacher read us this book when we started talking about really big numbers and it really helped us understand just how big numbers could go!
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