A Million Dots

A Million Dots

by: Andrew Clements

courtesy www.amazon.com

Today a million gets used a lot.  So much that we're probably getting a bit immune to it.  I mean, when I was a kid and someone got ransomed for A MILLION DOLLARS! that was a big deal.  But really, how many is a million?  I'm not sure I really, really got it until I read this book.  

I think this is a good book even if you don't have kids.  When the news tosses out that $7.5 million in damage was done, or 370,000 miles from here to there do you really know how many that is?  I thought I did, but after reading "A Million Dots" a few times I realize I didn't have a very good grasp of truly enormous numbers.

The reading level of this book is 4-8 but while our son enjoyed listening to this book he is still too young to absorb the concept.   Booklist suggests Grades K-3 and I'd say older grade schoolers would gain more understanding from this book than younger children, although it's written in a way that younger kids will still enjoy the 'story.'  Just don't expect to be able to quiz them at the end about how big a million is (I'm still working on it!).