Charmingly inspirational in tone despite a dearth of science heft.
A slim, heartwarming graphic biography gives a capsule view of the life and discoveries of Marie Curie.
Little Manya Skłodowska, growing up in 19th-century Poland, studies in secret. But Manya and her sisters, drawn with big-eyed and cherubic faces, look out for one another. First Manya works to send her sister Bronya to university, and then, finally, it’s her own turn. At the Sorbonne, in Paris, Manya—now going by Marie—earns repeated recognition for her work. She meets Pierre Curie, and they fall in love. There’s space here for Marie’s loving and happy relationship with Pierre, for the family they raise, for her research and two Nobel Prizes, and for her philanthropy. The sexism Marie encountered in her life is lightly touched upon, and the xenophobia not at all. Pierre, as pink-cheeked as Marie and almost as wide-eyed, is portrayed as an A-plus ally pushing for greater recognition of his wife’s achievements; Pierre Curie’s actual Nobel lecture provides his supportive words. This tiny volume doesn’t delve into the actual science, but it’s likable and irrepressibly cheerful (even though it covers Marie’s and Pierre’s tragic deaths). The illustrations of these White characters are as simple as the text: cartoonish and fond. The periodic table in the illustrations is inaccurate both for Curie’s time and for today, which is a shame.
Charmingly inspirational in tone despite a dearth of science heft. (Graphic biography. 7-11)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5037-5293-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Sunbird Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
Readers can count on plenty of chuckles along with a mild challenge or two.
Rollicking verses on “numerous” topics.
Returning to the theme of her Mathematickles! (2003), illustrated by Steven Salerno, Franco gathers mostly new ruminations with references to numbers or arithmetical operations. “Do numerals get out of sorts? / Do fractions get along? / Do equal signs complain and gripe / when kids get problems wrong?” Along with universal complaints, such as why 16 dirty socks go into a washing machine but only 12 clean ones come out or why there are “three months of summer / but nine months of school!" (“It must have been grown-ups / who made up / that rule!”), the poet offers a series of numerical palindromes, a phone number guessing game, a two-voice poem for performative sorts, and, to round off the set, a cozy catalog of countable routines: “It’s knowing when night falls / and darkens my bedroom, / my pup sleeps just two feet from me. / That watching the stars flicker / in the velvety sky / is my glimpse of infinity!” Tey takes each entry and runs with it, adding comically surreal scenes of appropriately frantic or settled mood, generally featuring a diverse group of children joined by grotesques that look like refugees from Hieronymous Bosch paintings. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Readers can count on plenty of chuckles along with a mild challenge or two. (Poetry/mathematical picture book. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0116-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This genuinely clever math book uses rhyming couplets and riddles, as well as visual cues to help the reader find new ways to group numbers for quick counting. It’s a return to number sets, with none of those boring parentheses and <>signs. Here the rhyme gives a clue to the new ways of grouping numbers. For example: “Mama mia, pizza pie, / How many mushrooms do you spy? / Please don’t count them, it’s too slow, / This hot pie was made to go! / Let me give you some advice, / Just do half and count it twice.” A quick look at the pizza, and the reader can see each slice has the same number of mushrooms. Count by threes for half the pie, and double it. Each rhyme is given a double-page spread. The extra-large, brightly colored images leap off the page but never distract from the author’s intent. Some riddles are very challenging, but the author provides all the solutions in the back. Once the reader has seen the answers, the strategy is obvious and can be applied to other situations. Great fun for math enthusiasts and creative thinkers, this might also teach adults some new tricks. A winning addition. (Nonfiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-439-21033-X
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
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