4 Buzillions, Katrillions, and Other Cool Numbers

Chapter 4 Buzillions, Katrillions, and Other Cool Numbers Sometimes I wish I hadn't gone to the school library last week. Then I never would have seen the giant pumpkin that got me into so much trouble. Don't get me wrong. I love our school library. It's the most fun place in my school. Except maybe for the playground. Our library has maps. And DVDs. And CDs. And computers. But most of all, it has tons of books. My class goes there twice a week for story time. Our story-time area is shaped like a little pirate ship. On the deck are lots of squishy pillows. Mr. Page is the library helper who reads to us. He has the best name for a library guy, I think. Although Mr. Shhh would be good too.

When Mr. Page reads, he wears a black eye patch like a real pirate. Also, he says, "ARGHH, me hearties!" Which is Pirate for Hello, kids! This time Mr. Page was wearing an orange eye patch, though. On account of the book he was going to read to us was about pumpkins. "Okay, folks," said Mr. Page. "Today's book is called Pumpkin Power. It's full of fun facts about pumpkins." He held up the book. The cover had a picture of a giant pumpkin on it. "Before we start reading," said Mr. Page, "I want to tell you about an even bigger pumpkin!" He unrolled a poster. There was a photo of a boy and a girl on it. They were each holding a book. And smiling. And next to them was the most gigantic pumpkin I had ever seen. It looked huge!

It was as tall as my dad. Almost. And as big as our car. Almost. "That's got to be the world's biggest pumpkin," I cried. "Actually, giant pumpkins can reach over one thousand six hundred pounds," said Mr. Page.

"This one is gigantic, all right. But it's not that big." "Any kind of gigantic is good, if you ask me," I said. "This poster is from Hilltop Bookstore," Mr. Page said. "They're having a contest. If you guess the weight of the giant pumpkin in their window, you win books for the school library. Enough to fill that giant pumpkin!" "That's a lot of books!" said Emma. "You're right, Emma. And we sure could use them," said Mr. Page. "You can make a guess when you visit the bookstore. The winner will be announced at the Fall Festival on Saturday." "I'll bet that pumpkin weighs two hundred buzillion pounds!" Hassan said. "Nunh-uh," said Gus. "Seven thousand katrillion pounds, at least." Emma said, "I'm not sure if buzillion and katrillion are for-real numbers. But googol is a real number, right, Ms. Diz?" Ms. Diz is our first-grade teacher. She knows lots of math and spelling. And also how to wiggle her ears.

"Googol is a number, Emma," Ms. Diz said. "A very big number. It has one hundred zeros in it!" "That pumpkin is for sure a googol pounds then," I said. "Children," said Ms. Diz, "maybe we should work on estimating how much things weigh. It could be a wonderful learning opportunity." When Ms. Diz says learning opportunity, she gets very excited. She is a brand-new teacher, so she likes to try out new ideas on us. Mostly that is a good thing. But once she let us make marshmallow crispies so we could learn about measuring. After that Learning Opportunity, she had to send home a letter to all the parents about How to Wash Marshmallow Goo out of Your Child's Hair. "Kids, I forgot to mention that the contest winner also gets a prize," added Mr. Page. "Candy. Lots of it. Enough to fill the pumpkin." "A googol pounds of candy!" said Gus. He had a goofy smile on his face. I probably did too. "ARGHH, me hearties!" said Mr. Page in his pirate voice. "It's time to read!"

He held up the book so we could see the first page. "'You may think that a pumpkin is a vegetable,' he read. "'But it's really a fruit, because it has seeds inside of it.'" Hmm, I thought. It was a very interesting fact. But not nearly as interesting as the news about the contest. Mr. Page kept on reading about pumpkins. He talked about giant pumpkins, tiny pumpkins, pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin pie. My ears tried to pay attention. But my brain kept thinking how nice it would be to win books for the library. And candy for me.