ZERO: The number That Almost Wasn't

 Zero. 

Nothing to it, right?

Actually, those of us who were raised on Schoolhouse Rock may already be humming

 "ZERO, MY HERO".

(If that's not running as an ear-worm for you right now, feel free to click it and hear the full Schoolhouse Rock story/song on Youtube.)

Which brings me to this remarkable picture book.The song celebrates ways zero helps "us", meaning everyone, in daily life, complex achievements, and more. What if ZERO had not become an essential part of modern calculations? If we had not developed algebra and calculus and complex algorithms that now form the foundations of our speedy calculators and AI programing. Or programing in general. Just imagine (but don't break your brain) all the zeros and ones that undergird what you are reading right now!

CHARLESBRIDGE, 2025

Join me in celebrating the story of how ZERO made its way into our lives. ZERO, THE NUMBER THAT ALMOST WASN'T is written by prolific nonfiction author Sarah Albee and illustrated by Chris Hsu. This lively account of ZERO's journey into our lives opens with reminders of how ubiquitous zero is- on its own or in use with other digits in our decimal numeration system. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone award you a check with six zeroes? If they are worth nothing, why would that get a bigger grin than  a check with only the initial numeral? I know i'd prefer $5,000,000 to $5, wouldn't you? Oh, those zeros pack a punch!

But the author doesn't begin with such extravagance. instead, we see the groundwork laid for pragmatic early human counting- with fingers, stick notches, pebbles, tied strings, and more. Throughout those processes and later in written counting, the concept of nothingness existed. It's how people knew to stop waiting for more sheep, to say that the six figs had all been eaten, to indicate an empty pouch that usually held stones. But NAMING such a concept took millennia. 

The progression of need and efforts unfolds so reasonably in this effective telling that even young readers will "get it". Illustrations are simply drawn and colored, keeping the story kid-friendly, but with volumes of information revealing time, place, cultures, class, and even subtle anchors in time. The illustrator note in back matter reveals intentional elements from research, including the breed of sheep pictured for that period, the recurrence of Haley's Comet or a solar eclipse in other periods, not to mention the accuracy of "incidentals" such a games played, clothing , foods, structures, etc. 

I always found Roman Numerals to be fun and challenging, although I knew others who hated them. They certainly did not deal with ZERO, but had calculation limitations and an awkward inefficiency as civilization grew. Full credit is given to the many ways in which mathematic specialists in Eastern cultures developed the concepts and symbols for ZERO, along with algorithms and strategies for working with large numbers. Trade throughout the near and far East allowed those ideas and processes to find welcome in many cultures. Despite the value and efficiency of ZERO's impact on thinking and economics, Europeans were unwilling to adopt any system other than ROMAN NUMERALS, even long after the fall of the Roman Empire. 

Once printing presses were developed, everyday people became literate in words and numbers, education extended deeper into the community, and Europe gradually saw the light, recognizing the beauty and simplicity of both the conceptual decimal system and its potential for representation in numerals, including ZERO. Back matter includes helpful and very readable elaboration from the author, a map indicating city and regional names referenced since ancient times, a "BLURRY" timeline, and an absolutely wonderful note by the illustrator revealing time-referenced Easter Eggs in various spreads.

I believe anyone and everyone should read this picture book, including older kids and full-on-adults. it is a perfect example of ways that picture books can convey powerful foundational information while entertaining and engaging readers. Give it a try and see if you agree.

Since I'm a bit of a math nerd  (and have been working on a story of my own involving ZERO) I was generally aware of ZERO's  path into our current number systems and symbols. I was both impressed and saddened to read about the very early use of a ZERO symbol by Mayans, insights that never moved beyond that time and place due to cultural destruction and attempted erasure by Spanish colonizers. Sadly, such may be happening for other cultures as I write this, leaving me to ponder what other kinds of beneficial information may never reach us. 

Happy Book Birthday to 365: How to Count a Year!

 When it comes to picture book releases, a celebration is always in order. Some, though, merit extra attention. That could be due to their unusual topic or treatment, the timeliness of the material, or connections with curriculum that hook readers from page one. Even more than those features (and others) are the track records of the author and illustrator who create the book. 

I am as excited as everyone else when a debut picture book creator knocks it out of the park. It is truly thrilling, and I watch for more offerings from those remarkably talented folks. That was the case for the debut picture book by author Miranda Paul (ONE PLASTIC BAG, ISATOU CEESAY AND THE RECYCLING WOMEN OF THE GAMBIA, Lerner). Since that initial publication, I have praised her picture books (both fiction and nonfiction) in several posts here, here, and here. Her work has garnered positions of honor  on "best of"  and notable lists, have earned many starred reviews, and developed more than a decade of fans among kids, parents, educators, and librarians. Just insert MIRANDA PAUL in the search option of the right sidebar here >>> and you'll see that I am a longtime fan. You'll also find a wonderful interview she participated in some years ago.

BEACH LANE BOOKS, 2023

Speaking of years, that is the topic of her latest release, launching TODAY (September 26, 2023). I was delighted to receive a signed review copy from Miranda (with no promise of my response) and am even more excited to share it with you on the book's birthday!

Of course there are plenty of calendar and season-themed picture books, as well as ones with math twists. In this case, the new release not only confirms that reliable creators are always producing books worthy of our attention. 365: HOW TO COUNT A YEAR also offers unusual twists on prior calendar-focused titles. 

Beginning with the straightforward (and familiar) starting point that most years have 365 days, the very next page-turn sparks engagement with references to 365 routine happenings, explored with humor and surprises. Yes, 365 good mornings and good nights, but also, "hopefully, 365 pairs of clean underwear". The fun continues with accurate, amusing, and curiosity-inducing narrative, shifting to the ways in which such big numbers  can be made friendlier by grouping into weeks or months. In a clever circle-story cycle, the text revolves back to the twelve months and a full year,  in which that long-awaited, once-a-year birthday returns. This is a seemingly simple subject that is executed with shining success in the text.

Now, about those illustrations! Julien Chung is a prolific illustrator whose characteristic approach is to make "out-of-the-box illustrations for children's books." He is true to form in this latest of at least twelve picture book creations, many of which deal with familiar topics in lively and smile-inducing, brain-stimulating ways. In this case, the cover illustration alone reveals that his vibrant but seemingly simple images are layered with levels of connections and comical appeal. That lion (irresistible, right?) travels throughout in countless roles: as the face of the morning sun, the model for that daily underwear change, and countless (pun intended) other ways. The cover also is a masterful approach to retaining focus on the big idea- 365 days make a full year, completed with that return of a birthday celebration. In fact, though, the overall images invite a pause to examine it more closely, hinting at the complexity of that year. Those include the solar system's role in creating one trip around the sun each year, the role of calendar concepts, and even aspects of this topic that are not directly addressed but allow for further investigation. Did you notice that MARCH is the calendar page LION is roaring toward, coming on strong? From jacket/cover, to front and back endpapers, to each colorful spread, time-related connections are revealed in the illustrations that are not directly addressed in text but expand understanding and inspire questions and "AHA" moments. (See yearlong phases of the moon on the "365 goodnights" spread.)

I urge you to celebrate this lovely release with me. For those of you who are new to Miranda Paul or Julian Chung, this is likely to nudge you to get your hands on more of their work. I have no doubt you'll agree with me that they are picture books worthy of cake and ice cream, but mostly, of reading and sharing.

Time-limited note: Until Saturday, September 30, 2023, this is a personal invitation to join her in celebrating her new release. Wish I could be there!

FROM MIRANDA PAUL: I want to personally invite all of you to join me for a Book Birthday Party at Lion's Mouth Bookstore in downtown Green Bay on Saturday, September 30 at 11:00 a.m. The event is free, and there will be FREE gourmet cupcakes and cake from the fabulous local bakery Bake My Day. (With some gluten-free ones!). I'll be signing books and doing a very short presentation. Mostly, we'll celebrate life and just hang out for an hour.

A WHALE of a New Picture Book: WHOLE WHALE

 You've never met a child whose classroom experience involved  a daily "counting to one hundred" activity, or celebrated 100th DAY by preparing a collection of "one hundred somethings"? If not, I feel safe in betting that you've never met a child who goes to school. In fact, if you click above, you'll find more than a hundred Pinterest ideas/images that have been used for these activities  Or, just do an online search for 100th Day celebrations to find links for even more ideas, including links to this practice in other countries, cultures, and continents. 

Barefoot Books, 2021

That's why I'm expecting to hear global cheers for this new picture book, WHOLE WHALE, with words by Karen Yin and Illustrations by Nelleke Verhoeff. The premise of this oversized, colorful, animated (by active scenes and by an increasing array of animals), story far exceeds a simple number/concept book. 

Opening with the inviting expanse of a nearly bare, shiny-white, double spread, a few animals recognize a wonderful place to gather and play. Could they fit one hundred, even in such a massive space? The next pageturn challenges that- surely not a whole blue whale? Each successive turn adds a few rhymed lines in which types of animals are named and pictured. Some are familiar, many are not. Each is portrayed with cheeky-to-charming expressions, oddly-scaled sizes, in part and in whole, continually returning to that challenge- a WHOLE WHALE? Not likely!

That descriptor is, of course, important. Some arrive with evidence, but not "whole": scales, hoofs, etc. But a WHALE? A WHOLE WHALE would be entirely impossible, wouldn't it?

The rhymed text remains tightly-metered and story-propelling while incorporating quality vocabulary, less familiar animal species, and specifics such as  collective nouns: "a pod, a pack, a pride, a prowl". They come and go around and among pages, in full voice: "Just listen to them howl and growl."  

Mid-book, the question naturally arises- even if they could fit a WHOLE WHALE, could they all get along? With pleas to stop crowding, the essential line arrives on a very crowded page:

"When  everybody makes some space,

One more can always find a place."

I loved that the underlying theme of this book is as rich and dense as the language itself. The push is on by the assembled menagerie, not to eliminate or separate anyone, but to literally MAKE SOME SPACE, resulting in a double-gatefold that allows these large, glossy pages to unfold to arms' width- and more. Wide enough to allow a WHOLE BLUE WHALE to join them all as the one-hundredth  animal! A challenge is included on that last line, for little (and BIG) readers to find and count all one hundred, adding a final page turn that offers an illustratedl/numbered account of the full one hundred animals.

With ONE HUNDRED DAY experiences being ubiquitous, it's safe to assume that there are a vast number of picture books that focus on counting to one hundred. (Likely, there are more than a hundred titles, of  varying quality, but I didn't search or count.) I can assure anyone interested in pleasing a young learner or their teacher that ONE HUNRED DAY books and related items will be put to good use. I can even more confidently recommend that THIS book is a delight for a wide range of ages, and will be returned to often, certainly more often than a simple  number-concept book would be. It will also intrigue, generating curiosity about the actual size of a WHOLE WHALE, about the other animals and their sizes and habitats and names and more. It will also make a lovely touchpoint/reminder to MAKE SOME SPACE when things feel a bit crowded in groups or when someone is treated as if they are not a good fit. 

This is one of those picture books that I first read about, somewhere, and what i read caused me to check it out from my library immediately. Now, as i search for reviews and posts online, I'm not able to locate that original review, or blog post, or tweet or whatever first caught my attention. Barefoot Books is a small traditional press, but even so I expected this book to have more public praise by now (released in June). Wide praise is well-deserved. I hope that my post here will catch your eye enough to check it out and recommend it to others, if you find yourself to be as big a fan as I am. 

A Pair of Powerful Picture Books by Kurt Cyrus

 With only a few comments here, I confidently recommend that you read and share these companion counting picture books, both written and illustrated by Kurt Cyrus.

A Christy Ottaviano Book: 2016

The first of this pair, released "all the way back in 2016" is BILLIONS OF BOOKS: A Counting Book About Bricks.

Both books are oversized, with expansive, colorful illustrations that impress with their sweeping scenes and intriguing specificity and detail. Both incorporate lighthearted and lively rhymed text, patterns of progression, topic-related terminology, and splashes of humor and wry twists.

Here are a few excerpts from Indiebound.org:

A Kirkus Best Picture Book of the Year
A JLG Selection
An Oregon Spirit Award Honor Book

"An amazing feat of architecture and artistry that kids will pore over long after the last brick has been laid."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Rollicking rhymes and elegant artwork should delight playroom block stackers and someday builders and architects alike."-Publishers Weekly, starred review.

A Christy Ottaviano Book: 2016

Now, in 2021, Cyrus is back with TRILLIONS OF TREES: A Counting and Planting Book. This time around the story involves a slip of the tongue, in which an order for trillium is misinterpreted to be "trillions of trees". The outrageous story unfolds with Cyrus's lively text, cleverly incorporated science information, and spreads that impress with relative scale, character inclusion, and concept development.

A leafy surprise awaits on the final turn, as various facts are shared by characters who peek out from among one of those trillion trees.

Again, this satisfying effort paid off with well-deserved praise:

Praise For Trillions Of Trees: A Counting And Planting Book…

A Junior Library Guild Selection

"This rhyming story playfully melds an often ignored counting concept—a trillion—with the importance of tree planting and preservation, while also introducing a great number of tree species to a young audience. Like Billions of Bricks, the story’s catchy, upbeat vibe reflects hard but necessary work, while the quick pace and energetic rhyme scheme both fascinates and instructs its young listeners about caring for trees. Illustrated with vibrant natural vistas to amplify quick, upbeat rhymes, Cyrus beckons early elementary readers to a newfound sense of the immensity and importance of trees in the world." —School Library Journal, Starred Review

For building-block fans, tree-lovers, or anyone who appreciates the fun of a book that captivates while layering in learning, this is the pair for you.  

Seven Golden Rings: A Tale of Music and Math

I recently posted reviews of picture books by Laurie Wallmark that are biographies of remarkable women in math and STEM fields (HERE, HERE). These deeply researched and well-told biographies reminded me that math is a thread throughout all of our lives. For some, as with these women, math and problem solving become central drivers on a daily basis. For others, math undergirds the  ways in which we live out our seemingly "un-math-y" days. 

Shen's Books, 2020

SEVEN GOLDEN RINGS; A TALE OF MUSIC  AND MATH is written bu Rajani Larocca and illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan.    

What a wonder this lovely picture book is. I read it in search of recent releases that engaged "content" area topics through a multi-cultural lens. In fact, this is a must-have for math classrooms across many ages, but it also offers rich layers of emotional growth and problem-solving. A young person in quest of a dream is a wonderful way to launch any story, but the nature of his relationship with his mother, and her insightful advice early in the story create a hidden gem that shines through at the end.

The math puzzle is seamlessly woven throughout the story, unfolding in ways that invite readers/audiences to absorb the patterns and participate in Rajah's daily solutions. The author's skill in storytelling provides a very gratifying conclusion that wraps in the "math" with delightfully realistic but magical satisfaction.

Though the annual Multicultural Children's Book Day is over, or perhaps because it is ALWAYS the right day to explore and enjoy books that reveal other-than-Western cultures and traditions, I urge everyone to check out this rich picture book. I use the word RICH intentionally, as Rajah's mother might have. She recognized early that her clever son should pursue his dream. She supported his dream by parting with the chain of only seven golden rings, all that remained of her dowry. To that and her encouragement, she added her wise advice.

The author's colorful and well-paced storytelling combine with the illustrator's vibrant and detailed images to transport readers into a time and place that feel comfortably inviting but also exciting and distinct from the their own. Traditional tales are published less often than when I was a child, and then they were exclusively Euro-Western-centric. I hope that the rising availability of stories like these and publishers who make them available will continue and increase. I urge families and educators to include this book in collections, and share often. 

Many picture books address math problem solving through storytelling. A large majority of these have animal characters and/or specific objects (cookies, doughnuts, pizza slices) that can be replicated to clarify specific algorithms for computation processes. here is definite value in that approach.

Few story-math books depict analytic thinking that involves anticipation of needs, shifting number combinations, or maximizing potential resources. 

Think about that sentence.

As older adults bemoan the "fading" skills of young learners in rote memorization or computation skills, we need to appreciate that HOW to think through what needs to be done is a far more important skill. Some picture books support essential understandings of process and calculation in ways that are entertaining and fun. Some, like SEVEN GOLDEN RINGS, use storytelling and character connections to enhance and develop higher level analytic skills.

In this case, the satisfying conclusion also celebrates listening to a mother's advice, speaking up to support others, and using our talents to contribute to the greater society. 

Throughout it all, the richness of cultural identity, traditional storytelling, and the importance of pursuing our dreams as developed in this picture book set examples for writers to develop depth and layers in their own work.