Zero may be difficult to count, but if you look carefully you can find it everywhere. It’s the sound of the stars at night, it’s the leaves on a tree in wintertime, and it’s the balls left in the bin at recess.
Betsy Franco’s poetic, metaphorical text and Shino Arihara’s stirring illustrations lead children on an exploration of zero as both a number and an abstract idea.
“Picture books about numbers typically go from one up to 10. The idea of zero may be a bit more abstract, but this picture book communicates the concept in child-friendly terms: ‘Zero is . . . the balls in the bin at recess time. 0 balls,’ or .’ . . the sound of snowflakes landing on your mitten. 0 sounds,’ or ‘the kites in the sky once the wind stops blowing. 0 kites..’ Nicely composed and often quiet in tone, Arihara’s gouache paintings illustrate those images with sensitivity.” – Booklist magazine