A Place for Zero: A Math Adventure [Hardcover]

Angeline Sparagna Lopresti (Author), Phyllis Hornung (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2003 | Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

As Zero searches to find his place, he learns of his additive and multiplicative identities, and then he establishes place value.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-3-This story about sad Zero, who "felt he had no place among the other digits," falls between the cracks in terms of finding an audience. In his search for meaning, he meets Count Infinity, King Multiplus, and Queen Addeleine. The lively, colorful cartoons of legged numbers would appeal to preschoolers or kindergartners, but the vocabulary, concepts, and puns ("Absolute nine-sense. It's two much!") are beyond their understanding. There are also a few confusing lessons, such as Zero's explanation that "When I stand in this place, next to my friend 1, as a zero I can represent zero 1s. But he now represents 9 + 1." Given the art, it's unfortunate that the author didn't stick with beginner-level math instead of proceeding to tackle multiplication and place values. As it stands, most readers will either be confused or feel patronized. Stick with Alexandra Wright's Alice in Pastaland (1997) or Cindy Neuschwander's "Sir Cumference" series (both Charlesbridge) for your math-story needs.
Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

A native New Yorker, Angeline Sparagna LoPresti taught math to second through eighth graders for twenty-five years. Prior to her teaching career, she was a medical research assistant at the Department of Bacteriology at Cornell University Medical School. Now retired, Mrs. LoPresti occupies her leisure time with indoor gardening, reading, cooking, and photography.

Illustrator:
Phyllis Hornung graduated from the Columbus College of Art & Design with a degree in illustration. She currently resides in Los Angeles where she spends most of her time drawing and painting. When she's not hard at work painting, she can be found browsing bookstores, reading, watching movies, or playing video games.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570916020
• ISBN-13: 978-1570916021
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, story introduction to the properties of zero, April 6, 2005

By 

Julie Brennan "Living math" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Place for Zero: A Math Adventure (Hardcover)

I use this book with K-2nd graders to introduce the properties of zero in a story-like manner. The illustrations are colorful and bold, the text is appropriate for this age group, and they creatively include all the properties of zero in the story. My only criticism is that unlike outstanding math concept books such as Demi's One Grain of Rice and Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar, it isn't as fun for an adult to read aloud, being a bit forced in areas. This limits the book to a younger age group. But for this age group, it is outstanding, I have read it aloud repeatedly to my own children.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I used this with Fifth Graders!, May 14, 2009

By 

M. Rotar "mishiemoo" (Provo, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Place for Zero: A Math Adventure (Hardcover)

My students really enjoyed this book. It was a nice review for them of the addition/subtraction properties of zero, and a fun way to introduce the idea of inifinity, as well as the multiplication property of zero. My fifth graders had a good time with the fabulous illustrations and we talked about the different ideas as the story went on. We even created our own math machine, to study input/output tables.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly Creative Book!, April 28, 2008

By 

M. Byrne - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Place for Zero: A Math Adventure (Hardcover)

My second graders LOVED this book! It's so creative. Even though parts of the book discuss multiplication and division, my students still understood it. They want me to read it again!