How Much, How Many, How Far, How Heavy, How Long, How Tall Is 1000?

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

To a young child, one thousand is as incomprehensible as one billion.
Helen Nolan and Tracy Walker attempt to frame the number one thousand in
contexts a young child might understand. One thousand sheets of paper,
for example, is as big as four thick books. The same thousand sheets of
paper, if blown about by the wind, will litter an entire neighborhood.
One thousand is also explained in terms of hockey fans, freckles, french
fries, and acorns.

Although the concept of the book is a good one, the execution somehow
fails to stir the imagination. Some examples are too ambiguous, such as
“On a clear night ... the sky is full of stars—so many you can’t
count them all. How many do you think there are?” The question goes
unanswered, which leads to puzzled looks from young readers. Not
recommended.