Nonfiction

The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity by Amy Alznauer

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The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity by Amy Alznauer

The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity: A Tale of the Genius Ramanujan by Amy Alznauer, illustrated by Daniel Miyares (9780763690489)

This is the story of an amazing mathematical genius who was born in India in 1887. He sees math everywhere, contemplating what small and big actually meant. When he started school, the teacher was not interested in his questions, so Ramanujan got bored and tried to sneak away to think his own thoughts. He wondered about the infinity possible in ordinary objects like mango that can be sliced again and again. Doing sums at school, he figured out the sums inside the sums they were doing, once again breaking things down. As he grows up, he reinvents mathematics, working from college textbooks and solving all of the problems. Still, he is just an unknown person in India, how can he find someone who understands what he is doing?

The joy of discovering Ramanujan’s math is that even for children or those who are not mathematically inclined, his theories resonate and encourage everyone to start thinking beyond the strictness of school math. Alznauer pays homage to this great genius, showing how he grew up, how he thought and how he was misunderstood for a very long time until being discovered by mathematicians in England.

The art is done in ink that flows at times like watercolors. Miyares captures the glow of invention, the heat of imagination in his illustrations. He also shows the solitude of Ramanujan in a captivating way.

Rich and fascinating, this picture book biography opens new worlds of mathematics to its readers. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Candlewick.

Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford

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Box Henry Brown Makes Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford

Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Michele Wood (9780763691561)

Told in brief poems, this nonfiction picture book explores a daring escape to freedom in the face of loss and brutality. Born in 1815, Henry Brown was born into slavery in Richmond, Virginia. He worked from the time he was a small child, passed from one generation of his owners to the next. Despite a series of promises by various owners, Henry Brown’s family is sold away from him multiple times, even when he paid money to keep them near. Hearing of the Underground Railroad, he decides to make a dangerous escape to the North, mailing himself in a wooden box.

Weatherford builds box after box in her poetry where each six-lined poem represents the number of sides of Henry Brown’s box. Each of the poems also shows the structure of oppression and the trap that slavery sets for those caught within it. Still, at times her voice soars into hope, still within the limits she has created but unable to be bound.

Wood’s illustrations are incredibly powerful, a great match to the words. She has used a color palette representative of the time period, creating her art in mixed media. The images are deeply textured, moving through a variety of emotions as the book continues. The portraiture is intensely done, each character looking right at the reader as if pleading to be seen.

Two Coretta Scott King winners collaborate to create this powerful book about courage, resilience and freedom. Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Candlewick.

The Cat Man of Aleppo by Karim Shamsi-Basha and Irene Latham

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The Cat Man of Aleppo by Karim Shamsi-Basha

The Cat Man of Aleppo by Karim Shamsi-Basha and Irene Latham, illustrated by Yuko Shinizu (9781984813787)

Alaa lives in Aleppo, a city torn apart by war. He loves the city with its alleys, bazaars and caring people. When the war came, Alaa didn’t flee. Instead, he kept working as an ambulance driver on the rubble-filled streets of the city. Alaa misses his family and loved ones. The cats of the city, left behind by their owners, remind him of his family. Alaa begins to feed the cats, at first only a few but soon many start coming to be fed. Alaa must find a special place for the cats. Donations come from all over the world to help and soon Alaa has enough money to create a sanctuary for them. Alaa is then able to save more types of animals as the donations continue. He builds a playground for children and well for fresh water. Through his big and aching heart, Alaa is able to share hope and sustenance with the cats and people of Aleppo.

This nonfiction picture book tells such a powerful story of resilience and how one person’s actions can impact an entire community. The text focuses on Alaa’s love for Aleppo but also on his big heart and willingness to give his own small amount of money to care for the cats of the city. Readers will celebrate his victories with him on the pages, marveling at how one person could help so many.

Shinizu’s illustrations capture the city of Aleppo both before the war and afterwards. The finely detailed illustrations show bustling bazaars and then the torn and vacant streets. The cats are beautifully drawn, each one has a character of their own, even in a crowded scene.

An important book about war, hope and resilience. Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

How to Solve a Problem: The Rise (and Falls) of a Rock-Climbing Champion by Ashima Shiraishi

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How to Solve a Problem The Rise and Falls of a Rock-Climbing Champion by Ashima Shiraishi

How to Solve a Problem: The Rise (and Falls) of a Rock-Climbing Champion by Ashima Shiraishi, illustrated by Yao Xiao (9781524773274)

Ashima is one of the best rock climbers in the world. Here, she shows how climbers take on the problems (or obstacles in the rock) in front of them. In this book, the problem she shares is the Golden Shadow in Rocklands, South Africa, which she climbed successfully at age 13. Ashima visualized her approach, clapped her hands full of chalk, mapped out each step in her head, and started her climb. Some parts of the rock, she named after different things in her life: her mother’s fabrics and her father’s dancing elbow. But then, the world slipped out from under her, and she fell. She dusted herself off, had a snack, and faced the problem again, learning from her fall. She tried again, stretching muscles to bridge the rock, and conquered it!

The writing here is a great mix of pragmatic approach and also lovely visualizations about the rock itself and the problem it presents. Ashima tells her story in the first person, from examining the huge problem in front of her through the approach, her fall and then success. But each step is executed in front of the reader where they can feel the muscle strain, see the skill that Ashima uses, and also use the approach of falling and learning from those falls, to dust off and try again.

The art by Xiao is marvelous with a substantial comic-book or superhero feel to it. This works really well with the subject matter, which has Ashima climbing what looks like impossible rock walls. The art shows clearly the different steps of the climb and how Ashima approaches each one with determination and focus.

A thrilling read and will inspire you to climb the rocks in your life too. Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Make Me a World.

 

The Next President by Kate Messner

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The Next President by Kate Messner, illustrated by Adam Rex (9781452174884)

This remarkable book takes presidential history and makes it both an exploration throughout time as well as an invitation to see oneself as a potential president. The book begins with George Washington as president and points out that when he was president there were nine future presidents alive with four of them already working at the capital with Washington. Readers will see presidents as children, teens and adults. They will watch them progress to being president, seeing the similarities and differences among the men who have been president. Yet most important of all is that they themselves might just be the future president who is currently alive.

Messner’s text is marvelous. It appears in bubbles that swirl through the illustrations or short paragraphs, making it bite-sized and inviting for young readers. Moving from one to the next, moves readers to a new president. Each one has interesting facts shared about them as well as glimpses of several of them over the course of their lives before they became president.

Rex’s illustrations are great. He creates recognizable images of past and present presidents as well as younger versions of them that are clearly still them. It’s a wonderful way to view presidents as human and to invite all children to see their own potential to lead.

Inviting, interesting and invigorating. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy provided by Chronicle Books.

 

Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks by Suzanne Slade

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Exquisite The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks by Suzanne Slade

Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera (9781419734113)

Gwendolyn Brooks grew up in Chicago, raised in a family that loved words, books and poetry. At age eleven, she sent four poems to a newspaper, and they were printed. She also submitted a poem to a magazine. But then the Great Depression happened and publications were no longer printing poems. Gwendolyn went to school and then to college. She got married and had children, writing poems all the while. She captured the hardworking neighborhood of Bronzeville in Chicago where she lived. Steadily, she started to get her poems published and then submitted a group of poems to a New York publisher. They not only accepted the poems, but asked for more to complete an entire book. She eventually had two books, but still wasn’t able to make enough money to get by. Her electricity had been shut off when she heard that her book had won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry!

Slade’s picture book biography of Brooks details a life spent with a love of words but also one that is impacted greatly by poverty. Her life is one filled with early promise as a child, but one that was also put on hold by the economy. Her story is inspiring, showing how a life of hard work and speaking the truth of a community can eventually be noticed.

The art in the book is done in acrylic. The pages are filled with pinks, greens and blues as backgrounds that float like clouds. Against this, realistic depictions of Brooks and her family glow.

A splendid biography of an important African-American poet. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy provided by Abrams.

 

 

The Seed of Compassion by His Holiness The Dalai Lama

| Tasha

The Seed of Compassion by His Holiness The Dalai Lama

The Seed of Compassion by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, illustrated by Bao Luu (9780525555148)

His Holiness addresses children directly for the first time in one of his books, this time in picture book format. The book tells the story of his childhood in Tibet, filled with mountains, streams, blue sky and lots of animals. His farming family meant that there was always work to do, so as a child, he helped his beloved mother. Through her, he learned his first lessons about compassion. He saw the way she fed those who were hungry and less fortunate. She treated everyone with warmth and tried to give them aid. When he was almost three years old, he was identified as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and traveled to Llasa to begin his studies. His focus has been compassion and how to spread compassion throughout the world, bringing joy to more people.

Told in the Dalai Lama’s own voice, the picture book looks deeply at how compassion begins when one is very young, watching others demonstrate it, just like with any other skill. The glimpse of the Dalai Lama’s early days are interesting and the setting in Tibet is beautiful and isolated. Just having scorpions for company is something that will amaze readers, but there is much more on these pages that is impressive and that will get young listeners thinking about how they themselves can be compassionate.

The illustrations were done digitally and have an appealing warmth that carries from page to page. The tones of browns and reds are enlivened by the greenery around them, providing images of life in Tibet.

A must-purchase for all public libraries, this book will be of interest to many. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Kokila.

Secrets of the Loon by Laura Purdie Salas

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Secrets of the Loon by Laura Purdie Salas

Secrets of the Loon by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Chuck Dayton (9781681341583)

On the edge of a quiet lake, an egg hatches with pecks and wiggles. Out comes Moon Loon, who learns quickly that she can float in the water. Her parents feed her minnows and crayfish, then Mama takes her baby birds onto her back to protect them from predators. As days pass, the chicks grow too large for a parent’s back and stay in the water. When an eagle flies nearby, Moon realizes that she can dive down underwater to escape. Humans come too close and Moon’s parents move to defend her, but the humans move away. Soon it is time to practice flying. When Moon can fly, her parents leave. But once autumn comes, Moon knows just what to do and heads south.

Salas’s poetry rhymes with a lovely effortlessness that keeps the focus on the loons. She beautifully describes the loon’s habitat in just a few words, sharing details of the loon’s growth process and how they evade predators. The fascinating nature of their first migration is detailed further in the author’s note that offers more loon secrets as well as selected resources.

Dayton’s photography is done in a fascinating way. His clear and brilliant photos layer together to form forests, lakes, trees, reeds and more. Done through cleverly cut edges, the images form a complete picture of the loons and their lives.

A poetic glimpse of the Minnesota State Bird and its northern habitat. Appropriate for ages 5-9.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Whoo-Ku Haiku by Maria Gianferrari

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Whoo-Ku Haiku by Maria Gianferrari

Whoo-Ku Haiku by Maria Gianferrari, illustrated by Jonathan Voss (9780399548420)

The story of a great horned owl family is told in dramatic fashion using only haiku poems in this picture book. A pair of great horned owls find a squirrel’s nest and claim it as their home. The mother bird lays three eggs in the nest, losing one when the crows attack her. Now there are two eggs left to guard and keep warm. Soon two owlets emerge from their eggs, eating the prey that Mama and Papa bring to them. The woods has lots of dangers like hunting hawks and foxes waiting for an owlet to fall. Mama is there to protect them though, until it is time for them to take wing and find a home of their own.

Through her series of haiku poems, Gianferrari creates moments that build on one another into a full story of the first months of egg laying and owlets growing up. Focusing on the strength and power of the most commons owls in North America, along with their exceptional parenting skills, the book also reveals the dangers they face despite their size.

Voss’ illustrations are a gorgeous match to the beauty of the poetry. Illustrated in sepia ink and watercolor, with digital color added, these illustrations captures the various moments with skill and drama. The quiet moments are just as powerful as the action ones, filled with dappled forest light and the incredible creatures.

A marvelous book of nature poetry for children. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by G. P. Putnam’s Sons.