A little girl named Uma wonders how many stars there are in the sky and muses:

“Maybe the number was as big as infinity. I started to feel very, very small. How could I even think about something as big as infinity?”

She asks her friends, family, and teachers how big they think infinity is.

Uma did have other concerns. It seemed like, with all that contemplation of the mysteries of the universe, no one was noticing her new red shoes. But that night, her grandma said:

“Uma, I meant to tell you this morning - those are the most beautiful shoes I have ever seen!”

And suddenly Uma understood something about infinity: “Right then I knew - my love for her was as big as infinity.”

That night, when Uma looked at the stars cuddled up with her grandma, the sky didn’t seem so huge and cold anymore: “Now it was more like a sparkly blanket, covering us both.”

The author reports that she interviewed children in kindergarten through second grade to learn what they thought about infinity, and their answers feature in this book. She found that children understood infinity is an idea as well as a number. She concludes with the thought:

“How many ways are there to imagine infinity? An infinite number. Just close the book and begin.”

Charming and whimsical illustrations (and great endpapers!) by Gabi Swiatkowska creatively illustrate the many ideas offered to Uma about the nature of infinity. Readers 5 and up will be entertained by the pictures as well as the story.

Evaluation: This story should inspire conversations about Life, the Universe, and Everything. Adults will be intrigued as well - I was reminded of the debate in the great science fiction movie “Interstellar” about love, and what a powerful force it is - an idea echoed in this story. ( )

I really liked this book because of the illustrations it had as well as the story within the book. It talked about infinity and this girl who was trying to understand what infinity was. She asked different people throughout her day what infinity meant to them and she wondered about it the whole day. By the end of the book, she realized that the love for her grandma was infinite and it comforted her. I would recommend this book for primary students. I think it would be good to read before talking about infinity in a classroom and is a good segue into math.

A fun book about a mathematical concept. Uma feels the weight of infinity looking up at the night sky. She asks friends how they think of infinity, finds similarities with the idea of forever, and thinks about things that might go one forever. As the author's note Saya, she comes up with her own way of thinking about infinity. Props for replacing the generic mother figure in the story with a grandmother. The art is beautiful. ( )

In this story Uma looks into the night sky and discovers infinity. we follow Uma along her journey of looking at so many things as infinity and what they would look like if they were infinite. Although I found this book cute and enjoyable, I would not have recommend it for my middle schoolers, because it seems a little young and it is a concept they already know. I would however keep it in my class library because I enjoyed how it talked about math in everyday life and how it showed her with her grandmother and not a "typical" home life which some kids might be able to relate to. ( )

This is a mathematical book about a young girl , Uma, who is s overwhelmed when she looks at the night sky and thinks about what infinity means. After questioning several people for the meaning of infinity, her grandmother compares her love to infinity. Uma then understands that her grandmother's love will go on forever and ever. This is a touching book that would be a great introduction to measurement. ( )

This book follows the life of a young boy who expands his mind on the meaning of infinity and numbers. Throughout the book the young boy talks about different infinity's in his life. ( )

I love picture books that tackle big concepts like this. I definitely get that you can have your mind blown with the idea of infinity at the same time as you're pondering the awesomeness of your red shoes. ( )

Young Uma is so excited about her new shiny red shoes that she can't sleep, so she goes outside to sit in the garden and look up at the night sky. There, she begins to wonder: how many stars are in the sky? She comes up with the answer 'there must be infinity stars' but she doesn't really know what infinity means, so she sets out asking questions to everyone in her life to try and understand just what 'infinity' means. I rated this book 5 stars because I liked how curious Uma was, and how many interesting ways the book brought up to think of the concept of infinity. This is a good book for a science classroom because of Uma's questioning, she goes around collecting data from other people before finally deciding on what her answer to 'what is infinity' is. Its a good look at the basics of the scientific method, and a charming way to introduce a complex mathematical concept to a classroom! ( )

This is a book that introduces the concept of infinity and eases the topic for the reader's understanding. I gave the book a four star because the main character Uma feels very real, as does her sudden fear once she learns of infinity, making her easy to connect to. This is a wonderful book to use when introducing infinity in your math classrooms. ( )

This book helps develops the concept in young readers that numbers go to infinity and there has never been the "greatest number". The protagonist in the story questions the number of everything around her.At a point in the story she looks up at the sky and sees a greta number of stars and begins to wonder hoe many stars are there? thousand? milllions? ( )

The whole concept of this book was a brilliant idea. This is how children should be introduced to concepts such as infinity. This book captures a little girl wondering about what "infinity" is. I loved the visuals, as they helped pull together the text. This book not only helps build an understanding of an important math term, but it also helps build imagination. ( )

Do you remember the first time you heard about infinity? Wasn't it scary? In this book, eight-year-old Uma looks up at the night sky and thinks about infinity which makes her feel very, very small. To soothe her anxiety, Uma asks her loved ones how they imagine infinity. There was so much weight in Uma's thoughts on recess: "At first, I thought I might like to have recess forever. But if there's no school before recess, and no school after recess, is it really recess anymore?" Once Uma realizes her love for her grandmother is infinite, it doesn't seem so scary anymore. This book does an excellent job of taking an abstract concept, perhaps the most abstract concept of all, and attaching it to concrete objects in order to make it comprehensible to children. The illustrations are extremely unique and a bit unsettling, much like infinity itself. ( )

Summary: Uma, a young girl, goes outside and looks up at the endless night sky, making her think about the concept of infinity. Throughout the book, Uma asks different people, "what is infinity?" She gets many different responses as she ponders the concept of forever until she discovers an interpretation she can understand.

Uma, a young girl, is overwhelmed when she looks at the night sky and thinks of infinity. After asking multiple people for their definition of infinity, she finds comfort in knowing that the love between her grandmother and her will go on forever.

If you're looking for a way to inspire very young people to wonder about math and science, look no further than Infinity and Me!

Hosford, Kate. 2012. Infinity and Me. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda. (Illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska)

Infinity and Me will open up (dare I say it?) infinite possibilities and questions!

A small girl, Uma, ponders infinity while gazing at stars,

"How many stars were in the sky? A million? A billion? Maybe the number was as big as infinity. I started to feel very, very small. How could I even think about something as big as infinity?"

Uma proceeds to ask others how they conceive of infinity, and hears it defined in quantities of numbers, time, music, ancestors - even spaghetti! Finally, she settles on her own measure of infinity, quantified in something that is both personal and boundless. Full-bleed painted illustrations by Gabi Swiatkowska capture the magical sense of the endless immensity of infinity that at first perplexes Uma, and finally envelops her in understanding.

In the end, it doesn't matter how one envisions infinity; what does matter is kindling an interest in something broader, wider, more infinite than oneself.

This is an intriguing introduction to a mathematical concept.

More @ [http://shelf-employed.blogspot.com/2012/12/infinity-and-me-review.html] ( )

Uma starts to question what the meaning on infinity is. She tries going around and asking people their opinions but most of them freaked her out or scared her. So Uma tried using her imagination to try to figure out what infinity looked like. Uma had also gotten a new pair of red shiny shoes, in which she was upset that no one had complimented them yet. When it was finally time for Uma to go home, her grandma mentioned that those were the most beautifulest shoes she had ever seen. Uma then realized that her love for your grandma was as big as infinity. ( )

A little girl explores the expansive meaning of infinity. My favorite lines in the book: "At first, I thought that I might like to have recess forever. But if there's no school before recess, and no school after recess, is it really recess anymore?" ( )

Uma goes to look at the night sky and starts thinking about the stars and infinity, it was so big that she didn't know how to comprehend it. The next few days she wears her brand new shoes and stars asking everyone she knew how the comprehended infinity, but non of them connected and made sense to her. No one, not even grandma, said anything about her new shoes. At the end of the book grandma does notice her shoes and Uma find the meaning of infinity through her love for grandma. I loved this book, the idea of infinity is so mind boggling that everyone can have their own ideas about it, we all have to find out what infinity means to us just like Uma did. I thought it was interesting that in this book Uma doesn't seem to have any other guardian besides her grandma and I think its important to have a variety of books such as this for children who don't have their biological parents living with them, they can connect on another level with the characters in the book.The illustration in the book were also very well done. I liked that on every page the illusrations were simple but their were also designs on only parts of the pages.
GENRE: Fantasy
1. Math, the idea of infinity
2. Relationships, Who are we comfortable asking questions with? ( )

48 months - I wanted to love this book but I didn't really enjoy the illustrations that seemed a bit dark. There are some good examples to describe infinity. I hope we come across another book or two on the topic so O can further understand this math concept. ( )

Genre: Informational, realistic fiction
Summary: This book tells about how a little thinks about infinity. She asks many different people how they picture infinity. This book would be a good introduction to the idea of infinity.
Age Group: Middle elementary (3-4)

This realistic fiction book is about a young girl who gets some new red shoes, and she is so excited about them that she cannot sleep, so she sits outside and looks at the stars. She starts to wonder how many stars there are, and thinks that there might be infinity stars. Then she wonders how she can even imagine infinity, and begins asking people how they imagine it. Her friend Charlie imagines it as a huge number that keeps growing, and her friend Samantha imagines it as the infinity symbol. Her grandma sees it as a family that keeps growing, and the lunch lady sees it as cutting a noodle in half forever. The girl then begins imagining what she would want to do forever, but cannot think of anything. She goes home, and her grandma tells her that her shoes are beautiful. She says that the love she has for her grandma is as big as infinity.

This is a realistic fiction story about a young girl trying to understand the meaning of "infinity" in her new shiny red shoes. Initially she looks at the stars and is amazed by how many their are and her inability to count them all. From there she asks her friend, Samantha, her grandma and many of her teachers what infinity means to them. Each one gives a different way of understanding "infinity." She begins to gain an understanding that infinity is "forever" and so she tries to think of all the things she would want to have or be forever. Throughout the book the young comments that no one noticed her new shoes, and in the end her grandma does and so she days she will love her forever just like "infinity." ( )

I think my favorite part about this story were the illustrations. Infinity is a hard concept to grasp, and I did like this author's take on it. ( )

I felt a little bit let down by this book. I carry a huge interest in books of this type, introducing science or math concepts to kids, young and old, but I didn't really think this one furthered the understanding a kid would have of infinity, beyond what you would be able to explain yourself to your kid with a couple of examples. And, I don't think either that the symbol of infinity is that essential for explaining the concept, or is it?

Anyway, I still appreciate the effort. Unfortunately though the book is sort of dark, and may not prick a kids interest all that much, if it was up to the cover. But then again, I feel the same about the graphics of most "nerdy" books I've come across for kids, including for instance [b:Math Curse|174329|Math Curse|Jon Scieszka|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347644241s/174329.jpg|168394] whose graphics I intensely hated. Either the illustrations tend to be cheap and trivial, or they're way too "hip" or esoteric for my taste. What's up with that? ( )

Great combinations that really work in this book:

* Nice story and consideration of a math/philosophical question
* Pondering infinity and new red shoes at the same time
* Well written and beautifully illustrated ( )