Picks From THE PIT Times Infinity!

Have you ever heard a conversation like this between students or even your own kids?

"I know the names of 100 dinosaurs!"
"Oh yeah! Well I know the names of infinity dinosaurs!"

It was something like this that inspired Kate Hosford to write the book Infinity and Me, and let me tell you, I like it infinity times 100 + 1!

Uma starts talking about her new red shoes that she is so excited about that she can't sleep.  When she begins star gazing she wonders how many stars are up there and eventually goes to infinity which she thinks is a WAY bigger thing than she should be thinking about.

She asks friends and family what they think of infinity and gets some wonderful, non-fiction type answers that make her think even more.  Her friend Charlie relates infinity to numbers, her friend Samantha explains the symbol for infinite as a figure eight that fell over for a nap and Grandma says it's like family with great grandparents, grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and it could go on and on!

The one common theme to all of the definitions is the word "forever" which makes Uma try to come up with something she would like to do forever.  For example, recess, but then she asks:

 If there is no school before recess, and no school after recess, is really recess?

I love that!

The school cook asks Uma if how many times she can cut a noodle in half and the music teacher compares it to a song that goes in circles with no end and no beginning!

AWESOME!  It's hard to find good literary non-fiction books to read out loud, but this one works infinitely well and the kids love it.  The illustrations by Gabi Swiatkowska were recognized on the NY Times Best Illustrated Books of 2012 list and they are wonderful, unique and interesting enough that kids find new things to look at and discuss on every page.

I'm adding this really smart book to my all time favorite books list!