Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?

by Robert E. Wells, Robert E. Wells (Illustrator)

Overview

The blue whale is the biggest creature on Earth. But a hollow Mount Everest could hold billions of whales! And though Mount Everest is enormous, it is pretty small compared to the Earth. This book is an innovative exploration of size and proportion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807592861
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	01/01/1993
Series:	Wells of Knowledge Science Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Lexile:	AD840L (what's this?)
File size:	9 MB
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Robert E. Wells is the author and illustrator of many award-winning science books for children, including Can You Count to a Googol? and Why Do Elephants Need the Sun?. He lives with his wife in Washington.

Editorial Reviews

In a picture book designed to expand children's horizons, Wells begins by comparing the hugeness of the blue whale with the relative smallness of an elephant. Next, he shows that even a tall tower of giant jars full of blue whales would be quite small compared with the size of Mount Everest. Even a tower of Mount Everests "would be a mere WHISKER on the face of the Earth," and so on, as he goes on to compare the size of the earth with that of the sun, and the sun with the red supergiant star Antares, which in turn is much smaller than our galaxy, which is tiny compared with the universe. What "How Much Is a Million" did for big numbers, this picture book does for big sizes, making the inconceivable more imaginable through original, concrete images: the earth as one of a packet of marbles dwarfed by the sun, or the sun as one orange in a crate that looks insignificant beside Antares. Lively ink-and-watercolor illustrations brighten the pages of this accessible concept book. The title and cover will draw a large audience of small children fascinated by big things.

Carolyn Phelan

"What How Much is a Million did for big numbers, this picture book does for big sizes, making the inconceivable more imaginable through original, concrete images…Lively ink-and-watercolor illustrations brighten the pages of this accessible concept book. The title and cover will draw a large audience of small children fascinated by big things."—Booklist

"With its bright primary colors; cartoon illustrations; and readable, conversational text, this picture book will find a niche in most collections…Librarians and teachers could use this book to introduce units on size, measuring, or relativity. And it would be useful to demonstrate how to make beginning graphs in a fun, accessible way."—School Library Journal

"This book makes the very big definable, if not comprehensible, a paradox sweet with mystery. Middle-graders will find here a light and easy read for science class."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Amusing color illustrations and a whimsical text show how large items are dwarfed in size when compared to even larger things. Fun and informative."—The Horn Book Guide

From the Publisher