Can You Count to a Googol? [Hardcover]

Robert E. Wells (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: 1 and up

You may be able to count all the way to one hundred, but have you ever counted to a googol? It's impossible! In this fun book of numbers, Robert E. Wells explores the wonderful world of zeros and tells how the googol came to be named.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-The author illustrates how our number system builds by powers of 10 and helps develop a concept of what those numbers mean. The initial illustrations are silly: a girl balances one banana on her nose; a monkey balances 10 bananas using limbs and tail; 100 eagles pull a basket of children through the sky. A more realistic sequence illustrates millions to billions. A large wooden crate is loaded with 1,000,000 dollar bills; 10 of these crates are loaded onto a flatbed trailer (10 x $1,000,000 or $10,000,000); 10 of the trailers are loaded onto a barge ($100,000,000); and a harbor is filled with 10 barges ($1,000,000,000). The author explains that a googol, the number with 100 zeros, is too big to illustrate. "If you counted every grain of sand on all the worlds' beaches, and every drop of water in all the oceans, that wouldn't even be CLOSE to a GOOGOL." Children are reminded that numbers go on forever by a rocket speeding off into space, accompanied by a trail of zeros. The switch from fanciful to factual in these examples is somewhat jarring, but the pen-and-acrylic cartoons do adequately illustrate the growing numbers. Though David M. Schwartz's How Much Is a Million? (Lothrop, 1985), with its consistent playful tone and imaginative number illustrations, is still a preferable choice, Wells's model of building numbers could be a useful addition.
Adele Greenlee, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This counting book begins with 1 and moves up: 10, 100, 10,000, 100,000, and so on, building to the concept of a googol, the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. Some math teachers will object to the notion of adding zeros after a number, which Wells sometimes does, instead of multiplying by 10 or 1,000. Still, the simple, colorful ink-and-acrylic illustrations of 1,000 scoops of ice cream, 100,000 marshmallows, and 1,000,000 dollars will help children visualize big numbers represented by familiar objects. Like Wells' previous books, such as What's Smaller than a Pygmy Shrew? (1995), this picture book encourages young children to stretch their minds a bit. The last page offers a short history of the googol, including its naming by a 9-year-old boy. Good supplementary material for the math curriculum. Carolyn Phelan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807510602
• ISBN-13: 978-0807510605
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 10.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,366,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fun With Big Numbers!, August 29, 2006

By 

Tiare Solorzano "Mother of 3, teacher, reader... (Citrus Heights, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Can You Count to a Googol? (Robert E. Wells Science) (Paperback)

I read this book to my son and daughter when they were 6 and 4 years old. They were, at the time, obsessed with big numbers, like billions, trillions, and more. They were fascinated with the concept of the number One Google, and this book's fun and detailed visuals were the perfect "food" to feed their hunger for numbers. A must-read for exploring math with your curious children.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Googol book, July 29, 2011

By 

Norma Riddle - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Can You Count to a Googol? (Robert E. Wells Science) (Paperback)

My seven-year-old granddaughter loves this book. Her father had already introduced her to the concept of a googol and a googol-plex and she was so excited to see it referenced in a book. Actually, the adults enjoyed it as well... it explain a very hard-to-grasp concept in an entertaining way.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Educational & Fun, June 3, 2009

By 

Two Cappuccinos "twocappuccinos" (USA (CT)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can You Count to a Googol? (Hardcover)

Wonderfully entertaining book of math and numbers! it truly inspires the imagination. I highly recommend it. You'll enjoy it too! Learning made fun!