Book excerpt: An unconventional, engaging, and delightful counting book for curious minds that playfully uses numbers as an entry-point to discover the amazing, diverse, fact-filled world of wonders all around us. The book focuses on the numbers zero to nine and powers of ten counterparts of ten to nine billion. Richly imagined and playfully illustrated, Octopuses Have Zero Bones is a great choice for children, families, inquisitive people of all ages, and it is a strong addition to any classroom or school library. Do you know… How many bones an octopus has? How many breaths you take a day? How many times a black bear’s heart beats each hour? How many moons Mars has? How many miles a trip to the moon and back is? How about a trip to Saturn? How many leaves are on an oak tree? How many meters there are between you and the clouds? What happens when you keep placing zeroes at the end of numbers? The answers to these questions appear in this book—along with many more amazing facts that celebrate the numbers zero to nine and powers of ten numbers ten to nine billion. Starting with zero instead of one, this whimsical, fact-filled counting book will delight readers of all ages. Combining elements of traditional and advanced counting books with a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world around us, Octopuses Have Zero Bones encourages young readers to fall in love with numbers and the world around them. The book’s layered content offers an easy and attractive point of entry as well as the possible to explore and understand more at multiple levels.