Inspirational, for any number of reasons.
A tribute to Shakuntala Devi (1929-2013), a celebrated math savant so quick that she could beat a computer in a calculation race.
Rajan presents her subject as someone who loved to race—not only with her feet, about the streets of her village in southern India, but in her mind, too, as she solved her older brother’s division homework at age 3 and counted while watching her Amma (mother) flip and fold savory dosas for lunch “111 times!” After she proved at age 6 that she could remember the order of a shuffled deck of cards after one glance, her father took her on the road, and she went on to perform lightning calculations and feats of memory before crowds across India and beyond. Adding only a bit more detail in an afterword, the author lightly sketches out the rest of Devi’s long career as a writer and public figure but highlights the self-confidence that allowed her to shrug off persistent accusations of cheating and also to deny that she was more than just (as she was often dubbed) a “human computer.” That strength of character comes through clearly in Prabhat’s warmly hued illustrations as Devi goes from counting groups of livestock and villagers in childhood (readers are invited to count along) to racing assuredly through increasingly long strings and jumbles of numbers as an adult, colorful sari floating behind.
Inspirational, for any number of reasons. (author’s note) (Picture-book biography. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9781665957052
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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