Review of The Boy Who Loved Math, by Deborah Heiligman and LeUyen Pham

The Boy Who Loved Math

The Improbable Life of Paul Erdös

by Deborah Heiligman
pictures by LeUyen Pham

Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2013. 38 pages.
Starred Review

I’ve been looking forward eagerly to this book ever since Betsy Bird reviewed it. My hold came in today, and I am absolutely delighted! I need my own personal copy!

Now, I have a Master’s in Math. Having studied mathematics at UCLA, I’d like to think that my Erdös Number (explained in the book) is at least 4, maybe even 3. So I’m simply saying that I’m predisposed to like it.

But there’s so much here for anyone to like! Even without looking deeper (more on that later), the pictures are full of life and interest, fitting the lively descriptions of a little boy in love with numbers.

Here’s an example from page 6:

So Paul kept counting . . .
And thinking about numbers. One day, when he was 4, Paul asked a visitor when her birthday was. She told him.

What year were you born? he asked.
She told him.

What time?
She told him.

Paul thought for a moment.
Then he told her how many seconds she had been alive.

[The picture shows 1,009,152,358 in a speech bubble coming from the little boy. He’s with his Fräulein and a woman who could indeed reasonably be 32 — even the details are right!]

Paul liked that trick. He did it often.

She goes on to show Paul growing, full of movement, learning more, always thinking about numbers. I love the detail that the illustrator included at the end: “As a young boy, Paul was known to flap his arms when something particularly excited him. This behavior continued through his teen years, when his friends would often have to explain to passersby that there was nothing wrong with Paul — he was just thinking hard.” The illustrations reflect this, full of life and movement.

And the author makes a smooth transition from childhood antics to a stellar adult career:

By the time Paul was 20, he was already famous around the world for his math. People called him The Magician from Budapest.

But he still did not know how to . . .

do his laundry

or cook his food

or butter his bread.

That was not a problem.
He still lived at home and
Mama still did everything for him.

She goes on to explain his unusual, collaborative manner of living. He’d fly to different countries, staying with other mathematicians, and then he had a way of bringing out brilliance in others as well.

Now, like I said, I have a huge soft spot for mathematicians, and my heart simply warms at the picture of the big group of actual mathematicians (women included, yes indeed) discussing together number theory, combinatorics, the probabilistic method, and set theory.

So the first run through of the story is wonderful enough. A story showing a brilliant mathematician with an unconventional life who produced great mathematics and brought out brilliance in others. How many picture book biographies are there celebrating mathematicians? It simply makes me happy.

But look a little deeper. The illustrator’s note shows the incredible level of detail she worked into the illustrations. Early on, the numbers you see are amicable numbers, and worked into the buildings we have dihedral primes, good primes, Leyland primes, Mersenne primes, prime triplets, unique primes, palindromic primes, Ramanujan primes, and two-sided primes. Paul Erdös worked in graph theory, and there are diagrams in the illustrations including the famous Konigsburg Bridge problem and other famous graphs. She includes actual buildings from Budapest and actual distinguished mathematicians as well.

And this book achieved something picture book biographers aspire to — I am absolutely going to read more about Paul Erdös. But even better, this is a book that celebrates young number lovers and will encourage them that their passion is part of something grand.

I’m posting this tonight in honor of Nonfiction Monday, hosted today at

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Miss Moore Thought Otherwise, by Jan Pinborough and Debby Atwell

Miss Moore Thought Otherwise

How Anne Carroll Moore Created Libraries for Children

by Jan Pinborough
illustrated by Debby Atwell

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2013. 40 pages.

This nonfiction picture book tells, in simple, accessible language, about Anne Carroll Moore, one of the first librarians for children.

The title phrase, “Miss Moore thought otherwise,” is used throughout the book. “In the 1870s many people thought a girl should stay inside and do quiet things such as sewing and embroidery.” “People didn’t think reading was very important for children – especially not for girls.” “Back then, an unmarried girl like Annie might keep house for her parents, or perhaps become a teacher or a missionary.” “New York was a big city. Some people thought it was a dangerous place for a young woman to live on her own.” “She saw that many librarians did not let children touch the books, for fear that they would smudge their pages or break their spines. They thought if children were allowed to take books home, they would surely forget to bring them back.” “When Miss Moore turned seventy years old, it was time for her to retire. Some people thought she should sit quietly at home.”

To all of those things, “Miss Moore thought otherwise.”

And besides telling the attitudes Anne Carroll Moore worked against, the book also displays the positive work she did – such as being an instrumental part of planning the Children’s Room in the New York Public Library’s new Central Branch. There are many pages about the bright and beautiful Children’s Room and what children could do there. I like this little tidbit:

One day the king and queen of Belgium visited the New York Public Library. “You must come see the Children’s Room,” Miss Moore told the queen. That day all the children in the library – from the richest to the poorest – shook hands with a king and queen.

(And the picture shows children all lined up to do so, with Miss Moore helping the next in line get ready.)

Notes at the end tell about more trailblazing librarians, give more details, and tell you where you can find out more.

The book text ends with a nice capstone paragraph:

Today libraries across America have thousands of books for children. And thanks to the help of a little girl from Limerick, Maine, who had ideas of her own, any child can choose a book from a library shelf, curl up in a comfortable seat to look through it – and then take it home to read.

missmoorethoughtotherwise.com
janpinborough.com
hmhbooks.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

This review is posted today in honor of Nonfiction Monday, hosted today at Wrapped in Foil.

Review of Out of the Depths, by Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau

Out of the Depths

The Story of a Child of Buchenwald Who Returned Home at Last

by Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau

Sterling, New York, 2011. 380 pages.
Starred Review

Israel Meir Lau was one of the youngest survivors of Buchenwald. His older brother was charged by their father to take care of him, and against all odds, he did.

The weight of history and the pride of his heritage rings through these pages. Here he talks about his brother:

Naphtali recalled his last conversation with Father, in which Father had counted thirty-seven generations of rabbis on both his and my mother’s sides of the family. He did this in order to demonstrate the great responsibility of whoever would be saved from the horror to continue the chain of our heritage. Father read verses from Jeremiah: There is hope for your future, the word of God, and your children will return home. He emphasized that if we escaped this inferno safely, we would know how to find our home, which was not this home or any other on this enemy land. “Your home will be in Eretz Israel [the Land of Israel], even if you have to acquire it through suffering,” he said, and Naphtali and Father cried on each other’s necks. After embracing each other tightly, Naphtali returned to his job in the ghetto. Father’s words echoed in his ears. Father had believed that I, the youngest son of the Lau family, would escape the inferno safely and pass along the heritage that the Nazis were attempting to destroy.

Israel (“Lulek”) did indeed survive, though his parents did not. He was only eight years old at the end of the war, but his brother managed to keep him safe in the camps. He and his brother made it to the land of Israel, and Lulek went on to become Chief Rabbi of Israel.

This is his story, a story of God’s protection and a story of great service back to God.

The beginning of the book, describing the war years, is the most gripping. After he gets to Israel, he doesn’t organize the material in chronological order, so the book was a little harder to follow. But throughout the book, a powerful story is told of a man who clearly has the hand of God upon his life.

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas, by Cheryl Bardoe and Jos. A. Smith

Gregor Mendel

The Friar Who Grew Peas

by Cheryl Bardoe
illustrated by Jos. A. Smith

Abrams Books for Young Readers, Published in association with the Field Museum, 2006. 36 pages.

I heard about this book during a recent Nonfiction Monday. I always love picture book biographies. Unfortunately, they tend to get lost on our library’s shelves. We have adult and children’s nonfiction filed together, by subject. But kids don’t tend to browse the Biographies. They go there if they want to find out about a specific person. Picture Book Biographies, however, are not for doing reports. They are for hearing a story about an interesting or inspiring person. All the more reason to review this book!

Gregor Mendel was the one who discovered the laws of genetics. This book simply tells about his life in poverty, his thirst for knowledge, and his painstaking procedure to discover what would happen when he cross-bred different varieties of pea plants with specific characteristics. It explains the laws of genetics he discovered in surprisingly simple ways, with clear diagrams.

This book has enough information that you could use it for a report. But I hope that some children get turned on to the topic or simply enjoy the story of this dedicated scientist’s life.

abramsyoungreaders.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

This review is posted today in honor of Nonfiction Monday, hosted today at Biblio Links.

Review of Spirit Seeker, by Gary Golio

Spirit Seeker

John Coltrane’s Musical Journey

by Gary Golio
paintings by Rudy Gutierrez

Clarion Books, 2012. 42 pages.
Starred Review

I admit, I was hoping I’d see this book mentioned in the Coretta Scott King awards, if not the Caldecott.

This picture book biography is written for elementary school readers. The story of John Coltrane’s life talks about how his love of music combined with his spiritual quest to produce something beautiful. His grandfather was a preacher and his father was a musician. Both those men died when John was still a boy, and he lived the rest of his childhood in poverty. But he’d already gotten a foundation of music and of faith.

The book doesn’t flinch from some side trips that Coltrane took. Here’s the text on one of the double-page spreads:

Moving back to Mama’s house in Philadelphia, John saw his world come to a sudden stop. His body was sick, and his pockets were empty.
Now he had to choose, between the dead end of drugs or a life rich with music.
Waking one morning, John remembered his grandfather’s words — the promise of Spirit, and of healing. He asked Mama and Naima for help.
With nothing to eat and only water to drink, he stayed alone in his room, resting and praying, as the drugs slowly left his body. It was painful, but John felt that he was being cleansed — made new again.
When he came out, a few days later, he was free.

But I haven’t talked yet about the paintings!

The illustrations here are what transform this from an excellent, serviceable biography and good story into a stunning work of art.

Much of the text talks about spirituality and music, and the expressionistic paintings put that on the page. The mood of each page matches the text, and you can almost hear the music. The pages give us a wide variety of colors and scenes, but all express a feeling.

But it’s hard to talk about pictures, when you can check out this book and in a few moments grasp the power of these paintings to make you feel what the words are telling. This one’s worth taking a look at.

I’m posting this review today in honor of Nonfiction Monday, hosted today at Shelf-employed.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Colorful Dreamer, by Marjorie Blain Parker

Colorful Dreamer

The Story of Artist Henri Matisse

by Marjorie Blain Parker
illustrated by Holly Berry

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2012. 32 pages.
Starred Review

Artists make ideal subjects for picture book biographies, and Colorful Dreamer makes the most of the form.

The story of Henri Matisse’s life is simplified, suitable for very young readers. It opens with Henri living in a black-and-white world, but dreaming in color. Here’s an example of a page that shows the fanciful approach the author took (yet conveying the facts):

It certainly wasn’t the life Henri had dreamed about. Law clerks, he discovered, spent long days copying legal documents, word-for-word-for-word. When he couldn’t stand the boredom for another second, Henri amused himself with his peashooter. Soon, he was an excellent shot!

Growing a beard and wearing a top hat didn’t help. Though he looked like a law clerk, Henri couldn’t bear the possibility of such an existence. Just thinking about it tied his stomach in knots. And this time Henri ended up in bed for months — in a hospital.

After Henri discovered painting, the pictures change to wildly colorful pictures, and reflect the different artistic periods of his life, culminating in cut-paper collages.

A page of notes at the back gives older readers avenues to pursue to find out more. The book itself is a wonderful introduction to the artist for young children. A lot of picture book biographies focus on the subject’s childhoold. Since Matisse didn’t discover painting until he was twenty, this author decided to focus on his misfit childhood and his colorful dreams. The illustrator carries out her vision beautifully. This book gives the information but also entertains and inspires.

marjorieblainparker.com
hollyberrydesign.com
penguin.com/youngreaders

I’m posting this review today in honor of Nonfiction Monday, hosted today at Instantly Interruptible.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Stay: The True Story of Ten Dogs, by Michaela Muntean

Stay

The True Story of Ten Dogs

by Michaela Muntean
photographs by K. C. Bailey and Stephen Kazmierski

Scholastic Press, New York, 2012. 40 pages.
Starred Review

Stay is a picture book biography of a circus performer and the ten dogs that changed his life. The pictures are photographs, and the story is told with economy of language, the flair of a performer, and using bright circus colors as backgrounds, making a complete package just right for its subject.

Luciano Anastasini grew up in the circus and performed in the circus from childhood. But one day in Chicago, he fell fifty feet from a high wire and was told his days as an acrobat and trapeze artist were over.

But the circus was Luciano’s home, and he wanted to stay. He sold tickets. He put up posters. He dreamed of the day he’d once again have an act of his own. Slowly, an idea began to take shape in his mind.

In the act he imagined, he would need partners — furry, four-legged partners.

Of course, he could have found dogs through a breeder. Or at a pet store. But if his idea worked, Luciano would be getting a second chance. Perhaps he could give some dogs a second chance, too. So Luciano went looking for the ones no one wanted.

The book introduces each dog like a star, explains why their owners gave up on them, and then how Luciano saw that their apparent flaws were actually their strengths.

While Bowser’s previous owners had seen a sneak and a thief, Luciano saw a clever dog with a good sense of balance. [The accompanying photo shows Bowser balancing on top of a tube rolling another dog inside.]

Cocoa wouldn’t stop digging. As Luciano filled in the holes she made, he thought about why she did it. He suspected she had so much energy, she didn’t know what to do with herself. Digging was her way of staying busy.

Stick was quick on his feet and enjoyed strutting about on his back legs. “Shall we dance?” Luciano would ask him, and they’d waltz around the circus grounds together.

Then the author explains how he combined all these strengths into an act that kept audiences laughing and entertained, how he built the act before audiences and went on to circuses across the country.

The story’s simple. It’s told at a kid’s level, with plenty of action-filled photographs and bright colors. But ultimately, it’s an inspiring story for both kids and adults.

People frequently say to Luciano, “You saved those dogs.” To that, Luciano shrugs and says maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not. What he knows for certain is this: They saved him.

After his accident, they helped him put his life back together, and he is grateful to each and every one of them. Dogs don’t care about yesterday; they don’t worry about tomorrow. They live for now — right now, and Luciano tries to do the same.

“We are lucky, my dogs and me,” he says. “We have a job we love, a job that makes people smile. But most of all, we have each other.”

I read this book because it’s a 2013 Fairfax County Public Library summer reading selection, and now I’m looking forward to booktalking it to kids in the schools to spark their interest in reading this summer. A hard-to-resist choice.

I’m posting this review today in honor of Nonfiction Monday, hosted today at NC Teacher Stuff.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Helen’s Big World, by Doreen Rappaport and Matt Tavares

Helen’s Big World

The Life of Helen Keller

written by Doreen Rappaport
illustrated by Matt Tavares

Disney Hyperion Books, New York, 2012. 44 pages.
Starred Review

I expected to skim through this book and then turn it back in to the library. I already reviewed an excellent children’s biography of Helen Keller back when I was first starting Sonderbooks. But as soon as I opened the book, I knew this was something special.

Helen’s Big World is for a younger audience than Helen Keller: A Determined Life. It’s a picture book biography, and the pictures are oversize and magnificent.

The format is large and almost square, and each double-page spread features a painting. There is text on each page, but not a daunting amount, and with reasonably large print. Each page features a quotation from Helen Keller herself, talking about her life.

The story is familiar to adults. How Helen was struck blind at a young age, and Annie Sullivan came into her life and taught her and brought metaphorical light into her world. It goes on to show Helen, with Annie, learning about many different things.

I like the page with Annie at the bow of a boat with a wave breaking over it. The text on that page reads:

Annie took Helen
walking in the forest,
jumping in the salty ocean,
tobogganing down snowy hills,
bicycling in tandem,
and sailing in a boat.
And she spelled out each new experience.

The book goes on to tell about Helen’s work as an adult, writing and speaking across the country. The text stays simple, and the pictures show some of the different settings where she spoke and traveled. The book also includes a Manual Language Chart on the back cover.

A lovely first biography.

doreenrappaport.com
matttavares.com
disneyhyperionbooks.com

I’m posting this review today in honor of Nonfiction Monday, hosted today at A Wrung Sponge. Thanks, Andromeda!

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Barnum’s Bones, by Tracey Fern and Boris Kulikov

Barnum’s Bones

How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World

by Tracey Fern
Pictures by Boris Kulikov

Margaret Ferguson Books (Farrar Straus Giroux), New York, 2012. 36 pages.

Here’s a picture book biography that can’t fail to catch the reader’s interest.

The most difficult thing about this book will be getting the kids to find it. In our system, it’s cataloged as a Biography, where it is shelved by the name of the person it’s about, under “Brown.” But who would ever think of doing a report on Barnum Brown? This isn’t a biography for reports, but a book to fascinate young readers about a man with the awesomely cool job of discovering dinosaur bones. My plan is to put it on display as often as possible, since the big T-Rex skull on the cover won’t fail to find the book its proper audience.

Yes, Barnum Brown is the man who found the first Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. In fact, according to the Author’s Note at the back, when he began working for the American Museum of Natural History in 1897, “it did not have a single dinosaur specimen. When he died in 1963, the museum had the largest collection of dinosaur bones in the world. Barnum had unearthed most of these himself.”

The book tells about Barnum Brown’s life. Even as a child, he had a knack for finding fossils. It goes on to show his general career of fossil-hunting with exuberant pictures, with special attention and detail devoted to the T. rex skeleton, which he tracked down over a period of years. Barnum’s mentor named it and Barnum called it his favorite child.

This is the sort of book that will inspire young dinosaur lovers. It’s about a scientist who followed his passion and discovered a giant.

Just as his family had wanted, Barnum did something important and unusual: he discovered a sleeping dinosaur and brought it back to life. Sixty-six million years after extinction, T. rex lives on in Barnum’s bones.

I’m posting this review today in honor of Nonfiction Monday, hosted today at Wendie’s Wanderings

traceyfern.com
boriskulikov.com
mackids.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander, MD

Proof of Heaven

A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife

by Eben Alexander, M.D.

Simon & Schuster, New York, 2012. 196 pages.
Starred Review

Let me say right up front that for skeptics, it will take more than one person’s personal experience, even a neurosurgeon’s personal experience to convince them that heaven is real. For someone who already believes it, though, Eben Alexander’s story is wonderful confirmation. And it’s clear that his experience convinced him.

As a neurosurgeon, Dr. Alexander believed that our consciousness and existence is rooted in our brain and neurochemical impulses. So when he was attacked with meningitis that completely disabled his neocortex, he shouldn’t have been conscious of anything. Instead, he experienced heaven and talked with God.

At the very least a miracle happened that he survived six days in a coma and recovered full brain function afterward. Dr. Alexander goes into the medical details of his case, and it’s clear that at the very least his experience convinced him that heaven is real and our consciousness can exist apart from our brain.

I’ve read a few of these books about near death experiences now. It does strike me that the details are different for each one, and for each one it suits what the person knows and expects (though all would say it’s much grander than what they expect). But at least one message is common to all of them: God loves you. So much.

Here’s how Dr. Alexander explains in the Prologue that his story is important:

During my coma my brain wasn’t working improperly — it wasn’t working at all. . . . In my case, the neocortex was out of the picture. I was encountering the reality of a world of consciousness that existed completely free of the limitations of my physical brain.

Mine was in some ways a perfect storm of near-death experiences. As a practicing neurosurgeon with decades of research and hands-on work in the operating room behind me, I was in a better-than-average position to judge not only the reality but also the implications of what happened to me.

Those implications are tremendous beyond description. My experience showed me that the death of the body and the brain are not the end of consciousness, that human experience continues beyond the grave. More important, it continues under the gaze of a God who loves and cares about each one of us and about where the universe itself and all the beings within it are ultimately going.

The place I went was real. real in a way that makes the life we’re living here and now completely dreamlike by comparison. This doesn’t mean I don’t value the life I’m living now, however. In fact, I value it more than I ever did before. I do so because I now see it in its true context.

Perhaps Proof of Heaven is an overly optimistic title for some. But if you do believe in heaven, reading this book will bolster your faith and remind you that some important things in life can’t be seen with our physical eyes. And God loves you.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/proof_of_heaven.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.