Pebbles and the Biggest Number

Pebbles and the Biggest Number is a wonderful picture book for anyone who wants to learn some interesting facts and some big numbers. Author Joey Benun has created the character of Pebbles the Butterfly, a counting butterfly who one day decides that there has to be a number larger than the forty-two flowers he counts each day. Pebbles sets off to ask friends from all over what the biggest number they know is. Along the way, he learns more big numbers and many scientific facts. The numbers seem to get larger and larger the more creatures Pebbles talks to. Numbers such as a quadrillion which has fifteen zeros and even a sextillion with twenty-one zeros.

Each page has a theme and with that theme comes several fun facts. Facts such as the Earth weighs thirteen septillion pounds and a large avalanche can weigh up to two billion pounds!

Each illustration in Pebbles and the Biggest Number covers a two-page spread. The illustrations are beautiful and use happy colors that will catch the eye of children of all ages. Although this book is geared towards six to nine-year-olds, because some of the facts would be harder to grasp for younger children, I think the younger children would still be able to appreciate the cute animal illustrations in the book. School-aged children will also love the illustrations but will also marvel at the fact that there are such large numbers and they all have names to them. Furthermore, the facts are really something to think about as they relate to us and the world around us.

The author also includes some “Dig Deeper” words towards the end of the book. These are words that Pebbles learned along the way such as atom, celsius and Fahrenheit, observatory, and tsunami. This fun integration of new vocabulary words is great for little minds! A “Dig Deeper” numbers infographic is also included and covers numbers from one thousand all the way up to one nonillion. Each number has an example of how many grains of sand would represent the number. For example, a nonillion of sand would be the Earth’s core filled with sand, whereas a thumbprint of wet sand would be a thousand grains of sand. What a way to put things in perspective! Even as an adult, I learned many new things from this brilliant children’s book. I would recommend it to anyone who would enjoy adorable colorful pictures and some fun facts.