Book Review: How Many?
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that kids and adults alike will be
fascinated by this spectacular book full of intricately
engineered geometric shapes popping out from each page.
Families will spend hours searching for the answer to the challenges presented on each page of this book. At a basic level, they can learn the names of the shapes and count the red ones, blue ones, etc. On a more complicated level they can tackle the harder questions that really have no singular answers and talk about why they disagree. They can make up their own rules for using the pop-up sculptures and, most of all, have fun learning to see things from each other's perspective.
Common Sense Media Review
In only a few wonderful pages, the bright colors, amazingly
intricate pop-up shapes, and clever formatting make this book a
full-fledged party! Kids and parents alike will spend hours
pouring over the designs and the questions that accompany them.
Enjoying its pages is a journey into 3-D geometry and the joys
of art and color -- it's even a means for developing surprising
perspectives.
On their own, the paper sculptures are intriguing to look at, let alone think about. Each is a collection of shapes: full of color, sized differently, attached to each other in very original ways, and otherwise engineered to invite the reader into its complicated world. Then the reader is challenged to lift the book, "turn it around and view it from every angle." Questions are asked, many with no singular answer, and they force the participant to look again and definitely "think outside the box."
Besides designing such mental challenges as this, Ron van der Meer teaches children math and makes it fun. He has also published over 150 books and is known as a "pioneer of the modern pop-up." This spectacular book is the one he thinks is his best.
Find out more about the history of pop-up books and check your answers to the challenges with the book's Web site.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
