How Many?

by Ron van der Meer

This is a book that truly has to be seen to be appreciated. Each spread features a different shape (square, circle, star, triangle, rectangle) that has been cleverly paper-engineered to form spectacular sculptures. Readers are invited to find and count as many items as they can per spread-shapes within shapes, shapes of different colors, and so on. Whether readers search and count or not, the beautiful paper sculptures will be admired by all who see them. This is a book like no other and belongs on everyone's home bookshelf.

12 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2007

Reviews

[Elizabeth]

I thought Jack would love this but was not as into it as I would have expected.

[The Littlest Library]

Paper engineering at its finest. This book is colourful and seriously epic! An architectural masterpiece in it's own right.

I love presents. And presents for no reason are the best kind! My gorgeous friend AB surprised my little one with this stunner over the weekend. And while she is a little too young to appreciate it's beauty and would prefer to eat it, I am very impressed!

Consisting of five spreads, the book invites readers to look for different shapes and colours within the epic paper sculptures that literally pop out of the pages. The five sculptures include triangles, circles, squares, stars and lines. Interestingly, there is no front and back. All sculptures have been designed to look at them from all directions.

Van Der Meer sets the reader a number of challenges on each page that include 'Which colour has the most triangles?', 'How many squares are transparent?', 'If you tilt the book do the squares change shape?', 'How many squares overlap?' The questions are thought provoking and math focused. Surely this is the perfect combination of fun and educational?

There is nothing to stop readers making up their own questions and rules - do shadows count as additional shapes? This book will keep the young and old equally amused for many hours.

Photos of the book can be reviewed on my website.
http://www.thelittlestlibrary.com/rev...

[Jenna]

Throughout this book there are pictures and questions about how many legs should each creature or thing have. It’s a good book for young children who are just learning numbers to practice, because not only can they try to recall what they know about certain creatures but they also can check their predictions in the second portion of the book where the answers are given.

[Robin]

This is one of THE most interactive pop-up books that I've seen. It challenges readers to look closely at each two-page spread to count numbers of circles and triangles. This is a book that I'm considering using for a program where I give parents and kids the chance to create a simple pop-up book spread.

[Katie]

Faith loves the pop-ups in this, they're very intricate.

[Robin]

Beautiful abstract and geometric forms in pop-up. A variety of constructions and engineering methods make this a visually pleasing past time.

[Deb Tregilgas]

HELP... This is a fabulous book that appeals to both left and right side of the brain. I want to use it with my special class but can’t access the website with the answers to all the questions. Does anyone have a copy and could send to me? Please.