An astonishing, delightful, and illuminating celebration of mathe-magics.
What is this essential number, and why can we “never know” it?
Pi is everywhere, and an obsession for some. This book is, per the title, “big” (everything we could want to know) but never overwhelmingly so. Lehmann and Aubin explain the math and the name, while engagingly connecting the numbers to the average reader. The book includes pi brain-twisters (including accessible, tricky pizza-cutting techniques), jokes, and an “e-Pi-logue,” along with calculations, a glossary, and a chyron of definitions wherever useful. Puns, eminent mathematicians’ quotations, and geeky fun facts are scattered here and there, one being that the distribution of stars in the sky reflects pi. Along the way, the authors manage to tie in a swath of topics, some seemingly unrelated, among them cognitive bias, irrational numbers, decimals, and Babylonian and Egyptian math; they also profile Chinese, Indian, Persian, and later mathematicians, including Madhava of Kerala, who made calculus a working tool. The style is chatty and hip. Demonstrating the ubiquity of number sequences, for instance, the authors assert that you can find in pi sequences your own birth date, but also “your boring uncle’s, your pet iguana’s, Srinivasa Ramanujan’s, Isaac Newton’s, Beyoncé’s…” Sildre’s teal, red, and blue graphic novel–style illustrations, clever and amusing, are also instructive. Ada Lovelace, Katherine Johnson, Emma Haruka Iwao, and Maryam Mirzakhani appear in cameos. Even math-phobes will find this pi tasty and nourishing.
An astonishing, delightful, and illuminating celebration of mathe-magics. (educators’ QR code) (Nonfiction. 8-14)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9783039640898
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Helvetiq
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A variety show brimming with esoteric and practical information.
Two youngsters embark on a journey peppered with history, trivia, and skits while teaching money lessons.
Meet Mellody and John, the young stars of this currency showcase. Their very first dialogue offers a taste of the intriguing information to come, from the ancient Mayans’ use of cacao beans as payment to the origins of the piggy bank. The book offers a chronologically and geographically broad timeline of the history of money, encompassing the past 3.9 billion years (starting with meteorite crashes that scattered metals—“the very first bank deposit”) and referencing practices across five continents. Readers will find themselves eagerly sharing the facts gleaned here, including the centuries-old origins of terms and expressions still used today. Mellody and John’s fun banter crucially reflects their experiences with money, such as their families’ differing attitudes toward allowances. Both are savers as well as givers, sharing stories about giving to charity. In one especially entertaining section, a cat and a bunny converse in money-related catchphrases that are separately defined at the bottom of each page. Stevens’ watercolors are appropriately realistic and appealing, whether depicting Mellody’s pretend bank or Elizabeth II’s butler ironing a 10-pound note. Messages about money’s use as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself, ensure that readers will think about their own purposes for their savings. Mellody and John are Black.
A variety show brimming with esoteric and practical information. (index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781536224719
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
