18. Millions to Measure by David Schwartz

Nonfiction book annotation
By: Angela Wilcox

40 pages



Schwartz, D. (2003). Millions to measure. China: HarperCollins Publishers.

Author Creditability: Schwartz is a graduate of Cornell University and a former elementary school teacher. He thought that if a piece of paper with one thousand vertical and a thousand horizontal lines could illustrate what a million of something would look like, then he could come up with his won million comparisons. He has now wrote several math related books including: How Much is a Million? and If You Made a Million.

Summary: This book introduces the reader to Marvelosissimo the Magician who takes a group of children all the way back in time to the prehistoric times to learn how our measurement system came to be in place. The children in this book learned about each unit of measure from the prehistoric times up to today. The book also uses mathematical terms and conversions to help the reader better understand math.

Most Important Access Features: This book uses dialogue bubbles throughout to strengthen the information in the text and to do it in a way that will bring excitement and curiosity to the reader. The illustrations are used as visual representation to the reader of the mathematical concept being discussed. There are scaled drawings, tables, and labels within the book, as well as fold out pages to visually represent a meter. The end pages contain further information about the metric system.

Description of Illustrations: Steven Kellogg did the illustrations in this book. He did a wonderful job of using art forms to make the pages full of action. The characters seem to come to live as you read through the book. The illustrations are done as one big illustration on two pages called spreads.

Grade Level & Uses: K-5; I believe this book would be an excellent choice for teaching the metric system and to let the students understand where our system of measuring came from.

Standards: Measurement; Problem Solving

Related Texts & How Related: The following books could be used along with Millions to Measure to discuss measurement.

How Big is a Foot? by Rolf Myller
The Long and Short of Measurement by Vicki Cobb
Measurement Action! by Lindsay Benjamin
Measuring Penny by Loreen Leedy

Quality/Awards:
ALA Notable Children’s Book
IRA/CBC Children’s Choice

Personal Response to Book: I thought this book would be wonderful to use in the classroom when dealing with measurement. I have found that so many students struggle with measurement especially the metric system and I feel like this book would be an excellent way to get the interested and to use as a resource.