Saturday, April 20, 2013

Millions, Billions, and Trillions by David Adler - OPTIONAL


Adler, David  Millions, Billions, and Trillions, PICTURE BOOK. Holiday House, 2013. $17.95. Content: G. 

This book attempts to clarify the fairly abstract concept of large numbers for children.  It gives examples and illustrations to help visualize big numbers in the millions, billions, and trillions (such as, how many slices of $2.50 pizza you could buy with a million dollars).  These numbers are so large, it’s really important to give concrete, familiar examples for how students can wrap their minds around them.  Some of the examples delivered with that purpose, others were still pretty complex.  

I felt a little overwhelmed with the large numbers and multiple examples by the end of the book, so I can only image how a child will feel.  The numbers just felt too muddled and the differences so subtle, that I wondered if a book on numbers this big was perhaps too complex. The graphics are bright and reminiscent of a video game style, which is appealing. 

EL (K-3), EL -OPTIONAL.  Reviewed by: Shay, School Librarian

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