None the Number

July 1, 2014

K-Gr 3-The Hueys are back to teach readers the value of an often-ignored number. Delightfully droll and enlightening, the unconventional Jeffers reveals the importance of the number zero. To make this point, one of the pill-shaped Hueys counts up to ten, giving examples along the way: "SIX fishermen waiting for the bus./SEVEN oranges I balanced on some things yesterday." And, he makes it clear, when you take away all those items, what do you have left? None. And, none is the same as zero. The illustrations, "made with pencils and a bit of color" on large white pages, are deceptively simple and ridiculously funny. This counting book becomes a "seek and find" when all the not-so-obvious objects that have been enumerated are scattered across two pages. An afterword by the author about "none" appears on the back cover-though it will be unreadable if the dust jacket is left on. Jeffers's persuasive lesson will have readers counting up to 10 using 11 numbers.-Maryann H. Owen, Children's Literature Specialist, Mt. Pleasant, WI

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