Millions, Billions, & Trillions

February 25, 2013
Math book veterans Adler and Miller put giant numbers into perspective by using familiar frames of reference and by appealing to readers’ imaginations: “How many ice cream sundaes would one billion dollars buy? At five dollars a Sunday, you could buy one thousand sundaes every day for more than five hundred years.” Real-world examples (New York City has a population of over eight million people) combine with more fanciful ways to conceptualize these quantities (“One trillion dollars would make a stack about seven hundred miles high”), and Miller’s eye-popping digital cartoons help make these intimidatingly massive numbers more digestible. And for those up for even more of a mental challenge: an author’s note tackles quadrillions, quintillions, and sextillions. Ages 6–10.

January 1, 2013
Adler endeavors to get a grip on the slipperiness of big numbers. Adler, along with Miller and his cut-out-style, cartoony artwork, has delivered on all manner of math, to the delight of those who turn into deer-in-the-headlights when confronted with numbers (Perimeter, Area, and Volume, 2012, etc.). Here they take a stab at wrapping young heads around millions and billions and beyond. The book starts out with "One million is a lot. It's one thousand thousands," but words aren't enough. You have got to visualize. A million is the number of sugar granules in a quarter-cup measure. Spill them out on a piece of construction paper and take a gander. One million. They try to keep the mood upbeat, counting sundaes (with a billion dollars, "[a]t five dollars a sundae, you could buy one thousand sundaes every day for more than five hundred years") or birthday parties--but they throw in the towel on a grace note and a reprieve: "You couldn't count to a trillion." There are also a couple of bracingly sly jabs: "Someone with one billion dollars could give away ten million dollars every year for one hundred years." Listen up, you 1 percent. An abbreviated tour from quadrillion to sextillion is followed by the deflating news that "names for large numbers are not the same everywhere. In some parts of the world, what we call a billion is called a milliard," but by now we have come to suspect these big numbers are pretty crazy creatures. Adler anchors great numbers in cool facts, but once past a billion, the zeroes are still helplessly dizzying. (Informational picture book. 6-10)

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May 1, 2013

Gr 3-5-Adler does a wonderful job of helping school-age children understand the concept that a million is a heck of a lot. He begins his explanations with things that children know. For example, he asks how many slices of pizza a million dollars would buy and tells readers they could acquire two entire pizza pies every day for 68 years. Grounding their thinking in something they already know helps youngsters begin to understand the enormity of the number. Similarly, he describes one billion in terms of how many hairs are on a typical human's head. One hundred thousand! If you gathered together ten thousand people you would have about one billion hairs. Trillions are difficult to imagine, and the book gives an example a good shot. Knowing that it is virtually uncountable is all that any of us needs to know. Miller's clean, clear digital graphics are lively and colorful, adding an extra bit of fun to the presentation. The book is perfectly suited to elementary students, who are able to think conceptually, and their foundational knowledge of math will help them make the leaps they will need to take to understand millions, billions, and trillions. For curious children who find numbers intriguing, this book is right on the money.-Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2013
Grades K-3 This accessible picture book presents big numbers, considers how we use them, and offers a sense of the quantities they represent. For instance, we use millions to talk about the populations of cities. To see one million grains of sugar (or close to it), readers are instructed to spill a quarter cup of sugar onto a piece of dark construction paper. Though billions and trillions are trickier to represent in the kitchen or on the page, the book provides examples of how the terms are used. In an appended note, Adler comments on even bigger numbers: a quadrillion, a quintillion, and a sextillion, all obligingly written out in large numerals. An interesting note comments that different terminology is used in other parts of the world, where our billion is others' milliard, and a trillion in the U.S. is a billion elsewhere. Inevitably, minds may still boggle at the large numbers represented here, but Adler's text is imaginative as well as logical, and Miller's brightly colored digital illustrations are cheerful and inventive.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2013
"One million is a lot," begins this useful book, the latest Adler offering aimed at making math concepts fun and accessible for kids. "What does one million look like?" Let's start with an experiment: kids are directed to pour (carefully) 1/4 cup of sugar onto a sheet of construction paper to see "about one million granules of sugar." Another way to conceptualize a million is by asking, "How many slices of pizza would one million dollars buy?" "Two full pies a day for more than sixty-eight years." How about a billion? "One thousand sundaes every day for more than five hundred years." Or a trillion? "One trillion popped [popcorn] kernels would fill two billion bags, enough for about six bags for every person living in the United States." The examples aren't all food-related; Adler also touches on population, economics, and even philanthropy ("Someone with one billion dollars could give away ten million dollars every year for one hundred years") in terms that his audience can understand. The text is well organized, so the concepts build on one another, and Miller's digital pictures, with smiley-faced children front and center, illustrate the ideas in kid-friendly ways. The copyright page includes a note about Common Core State Standards compliance for fourth grade (4.NBT.1), though the book looks like it's for much younger children. elissa gershowitz

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2013
"What does one million look like?": kids are directed to pour 1/4 cup of sugar to see "about one million granules." Adler also touches on population, economics, and philanthropy in terms his audience can understand. The concepts build on one another, and Miller's digital pictures illustrate the ideas in kid-friendly ways. The book looks younger than the Common Core-suggested fourth grade.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)