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Millions to Measure
There are millions of things to measure . . . and almost as many ways to measure them! Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician is back -- and ready to explore the invention of length, weight, and volume measurements. After that, with another wave of his wand, the wizard introduces the world of metrics and makes it easy to understand the basic pattern of meters, liters, and grams. With Steven Kellogg's playful and delightfully detailed illustrations, measuring has never been such a blast!
40 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
9 people are currently reading
237 people want to read
About the author
David M. Schwartz
81Ìýbooks26Ìýfollowers As a child, I was filled with a sense of awe as I contemplated the universe. The huge numbers of stars and their sizes and distances never failed to amaze me. With binoculars and magnifying glass, I also focused on closer subjects like birds, flowers, frogs and bugs.
But science and math weren't my only fascinations: I also loved bicycles, baseball, boats…and ice cream. Years later, on a clear spring night, I looked up at the sky and a shower of memories descended. I suddenly remembered my childhood awe at the wonders of space.
That night I was inspired to write my first book, How Much Is a Million? Now, almost 50 books later, I spend much of my time finding unusual, whimsical ways to make math and science come alive for kids and teachers, both through my writing, and through speaking at schools and conferences. I also write science articles for magazines, especially Smithsonian, and to do the research I've made exciting trips to some of the more remote corners of several continents. I've been to Africa to study hippos, to South America to visit an indigenous tribe living in the rain forest, and to far northern Scotland to track illegal egg collectors. But I still love the land outside my door in northern California, and the same distant stars that inspired me years ago.
from
But science and math weren't my only fascinations: I also loved bicycles, baseball, boats…and ice cream. Years later, on a clear spring night, I looked up at the sky and a shower of memories descended. I suddenly remembered my childhood awe at the wonders of space.
That night I was inspired to write my first book, How Much Is a Million? Now, almost 50 books later, I spend much of my time finding unusual, whimsical ways to make math and science come alive for kids and teachers, both through my writing, and through speaking at schools and conferences. I also write science articles for magazines, especially Smithsonian, and to do the research I've made exciting trips to some of the more remote corners of several continents. I've been to Africa to study hippos, to South America to visit an indigenous tribe living in the rain forest, and to far northern Scotland to track illegal egg collectors. But I still love the land outside my door in northern California, and the same distant stars that inspired me years ago.
from
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
December 31, 2023
This is a good book to reinforce measurement concepts to kids, but they should already have a solid understanding of both the English and metric systems beforehand for this book to be at its most effective.
December 5, 2018
Millions to Measure, by David M. Schwartz is an informational book that teaches students the different ways to measure. It discusses volume, length, height, weight, and much more. It also shows the millions of things around us that are measurable.
This book is very creative, but the only problem is it is very long. It has a lot of information for students to grasp. I suggest reading a little bit at a time. I made this mistake and tried to read this book to students, and they were complaining how long it was and lost interest.
David M. Schwartz has many other books as well, such as, How Much is A Million? Many of his books focus around mathematics. The illustrations are very unique.
"If you sat down to count from one to one billion, you would be counting for 95 years!"
This book is very creative, but the only problem is it is very long. It has a lot of information for students to grasp. I suggest reading a little bit at a time. I made this mistake and tried to read this book to students, and they were complaining how long it was and lost interest.
David M. Schwartz has many other books as well, such as, How Much is A Million? Many of his books focus around mathematics. The illustrations are very unique.
"If you sat down to count from one to one billion, you would be counting for 95 years!"
July 24, 2019
A fine concept for a book, but mediocre implementation and such absolutely ugly illustrations. I just can't stand Kellogg's feral people (especially children) and goofy animals. How I wish someone would re-do this book with illustrations that have some taste and beauty instead of comic strip garishness.
May 24, 2022
Best for middle to older aged children or even tweens. Engaging comic style but challenging as the units change and fractions are used. Covers both imperial and metric. Good for introducing measurement, mass, and volume.
May 9, 2018
In my experience, most young people outside a few select countries, like the US, are already familiar with the metric system.
June 28, 2018
Minus one star for trying to push the metric system on readers.
February 11, 2022
Steven brought this home from the school library. It made the concepts very understandable for a 7yo.I learned a few things too!
August 3, 2019
I didn't care for the artwork in this book, and more than that, I disliked the use of Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician to impart information about weights and measures. I prefer more straightforward text in nonfiction picture books.
March 30, 2018
This book caught my attention with the title and the cover was very colorful. What I really liked about this book was that it helped children learn math through a story. It taught measurement with objects and liquids. If a students isn't understanding a certain math topic you might be able to give them this book to help give them the big picture of using math. I definitely want to have this book in my classroom because I think a lot of different age groups and reading levels could read it.
April 26, 2012
Millions to Measure is a great book! I didn’t realize that there were so many books out there that dealt with curricular and could be used as learning tools. This book went into a lot of details about measuring. It also gave history and background about different measurements, which not a lot of educational books do. It gave an introduction to the universal measurements and how they differ from what students may currently use. It also talked about meter sticks, volume, and weight. I think that kids would find this book entertaining because it uses other children going on an adventure learning these things. The pictures are all very colorful and almost every page uses the illustrations to further explain the topic being discussed. It is a fun way of learning necessary curriculum. When students read a fun book like this, they may not even realize that they’re learning! I would definitely use this book in my classroom to introduce the topics of measurement.
June 6, 2011
This book has a ton of creative ways to measure, and makes the concept of measuring applicable to real life scenarios. The illustrations were a lot of fun; they were very detailed and colorful. This book would be great for an interactive read-aloud. Kids could discover how some ways to measure tings are not always accurate: for instance, all our feet are not the same size! (that would be a good place to incorporate some physical activity into the lesson. The book also gives reference points for what a yard looks like, how it compares to a foot, what a mile looks like and how it compares to a foot, etc. I think this book would be ideal for giving students a much strong grasp on the concept of measurement and how it applies to the real world. I am definitely using this in my classroom next year!
June 24, 2017
In Millions to Measure, written by David M. Schwartz and illustrated by Steven Kellogg, a group of children dispute the correct distance for their race and decide to consult Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician, launching an exploratory adventure into the history of how nonstandard measurement evolved into the Système Internationale, or metric system, as well as the conversions between the metric system and the inch-pound system used in the United States (and only in the US, stubborn rebels that we are).
This is the children's book that I'm reviewing for math class. It's not as engaging as , but it's a kid-friendly way to introduce standard units of measurement.
This is the children's book that I'm reviewing for math class. It's not as engaging as , but it's a kid-friendly way to introduce standard units of measurement.
March 9, 2014
This is a fun nonfiction book. It begins by telling the reader that there are millions of things to measure. Then it goes into how people from many years ago measured (ie. they used their feet and stones) and how that evolved to how we measure things today. The book introduces all the different measuring tools that we use now (liters, tablespoons, rulers, etc). It talks about how everywhere else in the world they use the metric system and how we don't use that as often. At the very back of the book it goes into more depth about the metric system. The book follows the same kids through all the pages, and it even has some graphic novel aspects to it (like speech bubbles). I would definitely use this book in my classroom!
April 26, 2011
This book went into a lot of detail about measureing. It goes ove rhte confusion and history of measuring and the use of the universal ruler. It also explains the marking of a ruler and even goes into using a meter stick and its equevelency in feet. It also introduces the different units of measurement such as volume, and weight. The illustrations were also very interactive and included a fold out page that measured a full meter. The book would be extremely helpful as a supplement in teaching measurements and helps figure out what tools would be the best to use for measuring certain things.
April 22, 2012
"Marvelosissimo the mathematical magician measures magnificently!" The children wondered and asked question. Marvelosissimo came to the rescue. The children climbed aboard his air balloon and off they went. He took them back to the prehistorical period to explore how people measure things. Next, the kings, queens, and sultan in the medieval time. Then, back to the present time. Marvelosissimo explained how the non-standard unit evolved to the present standard of units of measurement. Great adventure. Teacher can use the book in part or whole depends on lesson of measurement.
December 2, 2012
This book is cute and shows a lot of different fun ways to measure things and relates measurement to real-life. This would be a great interactive read-aloud. I would read this book and then have the students partner up and choose something to measure and how they want to measure it and then tell the class about what they did and why. I could also use a detective type of theme and have them measure different things around the room to solve some sort of crime mystery. The illustrations are also really really colorful and detailed.
May 6, 2016
Millions to Measure by David M. Shwartz is a fun nonfiction book that teaches measurement. It starts with the history of measurements, discusses why those methods didn't work, and then mentions the ways we measure in the U.S. today. I really enjoyed the book, and the pictures were funny. It talks about measuring in a simple way that children would love. I would definitely use it in my classroom. It would be great for almost any grade before starting a math unit on measurement. Its a great way to incorporate reading into math.
April 27, 2016
This book told the story of how we got our measurement units. It starts off as cavemen and goes through queens and kings, and then to present day. It tells the reader not only about the units of measurement that we use in the states, but also goes into the metric system.
I really liked this book because of the way the story is told and the illustrations. I also loved how informative it was and how it made measuring things fun!
I would definitely have this in my library, it might be too long for a read aloud. Appropriate for older elementary students.
I really liked this book because of the way the story is told and the illustrations. I also loved how informative it was and how it made measuring things fun!
I would definitely have this in my library, it might be too long for a read aloud. Appropriate for older elementary students.
April 29, 2016
What a CUTE book! "Millions to measure" is talks about measuring but I love it because it addresses how people used to measure things before we had standard units, as well as the way we currently measure things. How fun is that to teach students about old and new and have them learn both!! Teachers can focus on certain units in the book that need more attention if trying to teach a lesson about a specific unit. There are so many ways to use this in the classroom and I will definitely consider having it in my library one day! I think it would be very beneficial!
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December 9, 2016This book takes you though the stages of developing measurements and how to use them. It is a colorful fun and interesting book that allows a student to see the history of measurements and learn what they do. It shows the different in ounces, cups, pint, quarts, and gallons. It uses things children see every day to show measurement. Like, a bird, a spider and even a hippo. This book also has a lot of key words in measurements and goes into death of what they mean. This books illustrations are colorful and uses a lot of imagination.
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June 23, 2011This book traces the history of measurement and everything that it can be used for. It concludes by discussing the ease of the metric system compared to the conversions of standard units. Give students tasks to measure in both standard and metric, then have them convert each. Have students discuss the difference in conversions in the metric system versus standard system. This can also be used as an anticipatory set for the metric Olympics.
February 28, 2012
Millions to Measure is a great book for children because it talks about the history of measurement. The books explain why certain people used certain non standard measuring units and why some of these non standard units did not work. After reading this book to my students, we came up with our own definition of what a non standard measuring unit is and we came up with a list of non standard measuring units that we could use to measure things.
April 21, 2012
Millions to Measure by David M. Schwartz is a very interesting book that teaches students about measurement. It allows students to see why measurement is important and even gives them facts about how measuring started. Students can learn how to measure in standard and metric units. They will also be able to learn about measuring weight, height, length, and width, volume, volume, meters and much more. I would use this book for students in 1st-3rd grade.
June 30, 2012
I like that this book went back in time and talked about the different things that one would measure, such as height, weight, volume, distance, etc. After reading this book, students can come up with some ideas as to how they would measure certain things if they lived in a place without a scale or a place without a ruler, etc. This is a very informative book and would be great to use with older children. I also liked the section about the Metric System in the back.
July 8, 2012
Millions to measure is another cute book that talks about measuring. I like it because it addresses how people used to measure things before we had standard units, as well as the way we currently measure things. Teachers can focus on certain units in the book that need more attention if trying to teach a lesson about a specific unit. The book also includes more information about the metric system in the index if children or teachers wanted to read an overview of the metric system.
May 29, 2013
Ever wonder how our system of measurement developed or even why we have a system of measurement? This picture book recounts the history of measurement while detailing all the units measurement used in the English system for distance, weight and volume. The development and worldwide use of the metric system as well as the metric units of measure for distance, weight and volume are introduced in a short spread of pages.
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December 15, 2014This book helps students understand the invention of weight, volume, and length measurements. It handles metrics and other interesting comparisons. The pictures are really detailed (done by Steven Kellogg) and surprisingly enough have a lot of the text features we have been working on. This read-aloud text would be a good math connection for the unit and allow students to notice other subjects that have nonfiction items.
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February 17, 2016
I really liked Millions to Measure by David M. Schwartz. This book is about the different ways to measure distance, weight, and volume. It tells all about the system the U.S. uses and also tells about the metric system. The author does a great job of conveying a lot of information in a simple and fun way. I really enjoyed this book. This would be a great book to read in a science class when learning about measurements to make it more fun.
November 13, 2016
"Millions to Meausre" by David M. Schwartz is a great book that talks about universal measurements and the concept of measuring. It really describes the history and background well of different measurements. I think this would be a great book to read out loud to your students and have an activity that goes along with the book. This will really help kids understand certain measurements, so I definitely recommend reading it!
August 15, 2010
My 4 yr old loved this one, but he's the letters/numbers/math type so that's probably why. It's a little long, but cut up into nice chunks you could read only what you wanted if there was antsy-ness. I thought it was a little strange that it tried to make the case for the US to go to metric at the end, but the fold out meter stick was fun for my son.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
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