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GRASPING MYSTERIES

Name: GRASPING MYSTERIES
Author: Jeannine Atkins
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6068-3

GIRLS WHO LOVED MATH

by Jeannine Atkins ; illustrated by Victoria Assanelli ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 4, 2020

Thoroughly researched, creatively presented, inspiring real-life role models for girls who love math.

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This collective verse biography “honors women who used math to frame and solve problems, fix things, or understand the size of the universe.”

Atkins opens with German Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), the first woman to discover a comet, and closes with American Vera Rubin (1928-2016), an astronomer who proved the existence of dark matter. Throughout, she illustrates how each woman faced personal obstacles as well as gender bias but never allowed “insults or lack of faith to stop” her. Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) revolutionized the nursing profession through use of medical statistics, and Hertha Marks Ayrton (1854-1923) became the first female electrical engineer, registering 26 patents; both women were English. American geologist Marie Tharp (1920-2006) helped develop the first map of the entire ocean floor while her countrywoman mathematician Katherine Johnson (1918-2020) endured segregation as she calculated trajectories for NASA. At the U.S. Census Bureau, statistician Edna Lee Paisano (1948-2014) used math to “give everyone a fair chance.” With the exception of African American Johnson and Nez Perce Paisano, the women profiled are white. Presented chronologically in engaging verse with a feminist tone, the text artfully weaves scientific data and history with imagined “dialogue and sensory detail based on what’s known about the time, places, and questions” of these remarkable math mavens. A line drawing introduces each woman’s biography, and the “Women Who Widened Horizons” section summarizes their achievements.

Thoroughly researched, creatively presented, inspiring real-life role models for girls who love math. (author’s note, selected bibliography) (Verse biography. 10-14)

Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-5344-6068-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
HIDDEN POWERS
by Jeannine Atkins

- BOOK REVIEW
STONE MIRRORS
by Jeannine Atkins

- BOOK REVIEW
FINDING WONDERS
by Jeannine Atkins

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THE BLETCHLEY RIDDLE

by Ruta Sepetys & Steve Sheinkin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2024

A rich, enthralling historical mystery that engages and educates.

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Siblings decode familial and wartime secrets in 1940 England.

Headstrong 14-year-old Lizzie Novis refuses to believe that her mother, a U.S. embassy clerk who was working in Poland, is dead. After fleeing from her grandmother—who’s attempting to bring her back to America—Lizzie locates her 19-year-old brother, Jakob, a Cambridge mathematician who’s stationed at the clandestine British intelligence site called Bletchley Park. Hiding from her grandmother’s estate steward, Lizzie becomes a messenger at Bletchley Park, ferrying letters across the grounds while Jakob attempts to both break the ciphers generated by the German Enigma machines and help his sister face the reality of their mother’s likely fate. With a suspicious MI5 agent inquiring about Mum and clues and codes piling up, the siblings, whose late father was “Polish Jewish British,” eventually decipher the truth. Shared narrative duties between the siblings effectively juxtapose the measured Jakob with the spirited Lizzie. Lizzie’s directness is repeatedly attributed to her being “half American,” which proves tiresome, but Jakob’s development from reserved to risk-tolerant provides welcome nuance. The authors introduce and carefully explain a variety of decoding methodologies, inspiring readers to attempt their own. A thoughtful and entertaining historical note identifies the key figures who appear in the book, such as Alan Turing, as well as the real-life bases for the fictional characters. Interspersed photos and images of ephemera help situate the narrative’s time period.

A rich, enthralling historical mystery that engages and educates. (Historical mystery. 10-14)