How big is big?
How far is far?
How fast is 120 kilometers per hour?
How heavy are 4 tons?
Units of measure are abstract—until, that is, they are contrasted with other quantities. The entertaining juxtapositions in How Big Is Big? How Far Is Far? make dimensions and measurements more comprehensible for children.
The author, Jan Van Der Veken, features amusing comparisons that make units of length, distance, weight, speed, volume, and time easier to grasp. The Queen of England’s crown, for example, weighs more than 100 portions of cotton candy.
It would take eight days of travel in an elevator through the Earth’s center to reach the other end. And when the world’s oldest living tortoise was born, there were no electric lights, telephones, cars, or airplanes.
Thanks to these imaginative comparisons and witty illustrations children will comprehend the units of measure and maybe adults will review some notion too.
Illustrated by Jan Van Der Veken, How Big is Big? How Far is Far?, Copyright Gestalten, 2015
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Text by Enrico Fragale Esposito