It's easy to count three of something-- just add them up. But how do you count zero, a number that is best defined by what it's not?
Can you see it? Can you hear it? Can you feel it?
This important math concept is beautifully explored in a way that will inspire children to find zero everywhere--from the branches of a tree by day to the vast, starry sky by night.
Zero is... the shape of an egg. Zero is a number.
Zero is . . . the balls in the bin at recess time. 0 balls
Zero is . . . the leaves on the bare, brown arms of the oak tree. 0 leaves
Picture books about numbers typically go from one up to 10. The idea of zero may be a bit more abstract, but this picture book communicates the concept in child-friendly terms: “Zero is . . . the balls in the bin at recess time. 0 balls,” or “. . . the sound of snowflakes landing on your mitten. 0 sounds,” or “the kites in the sky once the wind stops blowing. 0 kites.”...Nicely composed and often quiet in tone, Arihara’s gouache paintings illustrate those images with sensitivity.—Booklist magazine
How exactly do you define zero? Franco’s thought-provoking meditations challenge readers to move beyond conventional school-taught facts (it’s a number; it’s egg-shaped) to poetic observations about zero outside the classroom via a tour of the seasons....Cleverly upending the notion that zero amounts to nothing, the book reveals instead that zero is an absence that is observable, countable, and meaningful. —The Horn Book Review
Betsy Franco has written more than 80 books for children and young adults, including picture books, poetry collections, and novels. Among her acclaimed math-themed titles are Mathematickles! and Bees, Snails, & Peacock Tails. She lives in Northern California with her husband, Doug, and gets tremendous inspiration from her three creative sons.
View titles by Betsy Franco
SHINO ARIHARA is a graduate from the Art Center College of Design. Her work has appeared in LA Weekly, Seventeen, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe. Her first picture book, Ceci Ann's Day of Why, was published in 2006.
View titles by Shino Arihara
It's easy to count three of something-- just add them up. But how do you count zero, a number that is best defined by what it's not?
Can you see it? Can you hear it? Can you feel it?
This important math concept is beautifully explored in a way that will inspire children to find zero everywhere--from the branches of a tree by day to the vast, starry sky by night.
Excerpt
Zero is... the shape of an egg. Zero is a number.
Zero is . . . the balls in the bin at recess time. 0 balls
Zero is . . . the leaves on the bare, brown arms of the oak tree. 0 leaves
Picture books about numbers typically go from one up to 10. The idea of zero may be a bit more abstract, but this picture book communicates the concept in child-friendly terms: “Zero is . . . the balls in the bin at recess time. 0 balls,” or “. . . the sound of snowflakes landing on your mitten. 0 sounds,” or “the kites in the sky once the wind stops blowing. 0 kites.”...Nicely composed and often quiet in tone, Arihara’s gouache paintings illustrate those images with sensitivity.—Booklist magazine
How exactly do you define zero? Franco’s thought-provoking meditations challenge readers to move beyond conventional school-taught facts (it’s a number; it’s egg-shaped) to poetic observations about zero outside the classroom via a tour of the seasons....Cleverly upending the notion that zero amounts to nothing, the book reveals instead that zero is an absence that is observable, countable, and meaningful. —The Horn Book Review
Author
Betsy Franco has written more than 80 books for children and young adults, including picture books, poetry collections, and novels. Among her acclaimed math-themed titles are Mathematickles! and Bees, Snails, & Peacock Tails. She lives in Northern California with her husband, Doug, and gets tremendous inspiration from her three creative sons.
View titles by Betsy Franco
SHINO ARIHARA is a graduate from the Art Center College of Design. Her work has appeared in LA Weekly, Seventeen, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe. Her first picture book, Ceci Ann's Day of Why, was published in 2006.
View titles by Shino Arihara
