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Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics
The book explores the life of the ground-breaking mathematician.
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 2020
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197 people want to read
About the author
Laurie Wallmark
12 books56 followersAward-winning author Laurie Wallmark writes picture book biographies of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) as well as fiction. Her books have earned multiple starred trade reviews, been chosen as Junior Library Guild Selections, and received awards such as Outstanding Science Trade Book, Best STEM Book, Crystal Kite Award, Cook Prize Honor, and Parents’ Choice Gold Medal. Her titles include ADA BYRON LOVELACE AND THE THINKING MACHINE, GRACE HOPPER: QUEEN OF COMPUTER CODE, HEDY LAMARR’S DOUBLE LIFE, NUMBERS IN MOTION, CODE BREAKER, SPY HUNTER, and DINO PAJAMA PARTY. Laurie has an MFA in Writing from VCFA and frequently presents at schools as well as national professional conferences (NSTA, NCTE, ALA, TLA, etc.). She is a former software engineer and computer science professor. You can find Laurie on the Web at www.lauriewallmark.com and @lauriewallmark.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
March 10, 2021
Fantastic living book about a woman in mathematics before women were allowed to go to University or teach at higher learning schools. It is a great story of the sacrifices a woman was willing to make to follow her giftedness. Very interesting! Some of the sacrifices she had to make make my heart hurt. She had to marry someone for the convenience to leave the country because she needed a man’s permission and her father wouldn’t grant it. She had to work initially as a non student and then as a teacher without pay. Hard for little girls to hear these days but maybe it makes them appreciate the sacrifices of those before them.
June 17, 2020
Beautiful and Inspiring . . . Three cheers for women in STEM!
Born into an era when women were not allowed to do much more than maintain a home, Sophie Kowalveski, against all mathematical odds, forges a path to become the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics. Laurie Wallmark’s insightful biography takes us on Sophie’s journey from being a gifted young girl with an interest in math to how she later became the Queen of Mathematics. Yevgenia Nayberg’s gorgeous illustrations add texture and depth to this beautiful, inspiring story. Highly recommended.
Born into an era when women were not allowed to do much more than maintain a home, Sophie Kowalveski, against all mathematical odds, forges a path to become the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics. Laurie Wallmark’s insightful biography takes us on Sophie’s journey from being a gifted young girl with an interest in math to how she later became the Queen of Mathematics. Yevgenia Nayberg’s gorgeous illustrations add texture and depth to this beautiful, inspiring story. Highly recommended.
September 10, 2020
"I liked it because there was a lot of math"
November 15, 2020
I loved reading picture book biographies of ground-breaking women when my daughters were little, so I was excited to see this new series of biographies by Wallmark. But this could have been better.
I realize that a picture book is a somewhat limited format and you can only hit the highlights before losing the attention of your young audience, but I still think Wallmark could have done a better job if she included more details. There's very little information about Kowalevski as a little girl - that's where I find kids are most captivated, when reading about what people were like as children, so I think Wallmark would have done well to include a few more pages on that.
I was left with a lot of questions. First of all, there's no mention of Kowalevski growing up in Russia. But suddenly, after twelve pages on Sophie's youth, we get "she wanted to go to Heidelberg University in Germany. But in order to leave Russia ..." and I had that record-screech stop-everything moment of "wait a minute. What? We were in Russia?" I guess I assumed she was Polish.
More questions:
* Was Sophie's father also a math whiz? Was he a math professor? (I Googled: he was an officer in the Russian army.)
* Why did Sophie's father wallpaper her room with his old college math notes? was it expediency? or did he already know she loved math and he wanted to encourage her? (And, if he wanted to encourage her, why did he refuse to get her a passport so she could go to Germany for university?)
* When we read that "she could substitute a line, called a chord, which connects two points on a circle" ... what was she substituting it for?? The accompanying illustration shows equations for an arc of a circle, the area of a portion of a circle calculated with the sine function, but ... frustratingly ... no equation for the chord, so I can't see what the chord is being substituted for. Grrrr I'm not a math whiz so I don't already know this. But I would like to know!
* How did Sophie find her husband, Vladimir. The text tells us "Sophie looked for a man who would agree to be her partner ..." but how did she look? Was he a neighbor? a friend of the family? her father's student?
* Exactly what kind of agreement did Sophie and Vladimir have? The book says they lead separate lives. But ... they had a daughter together, so they weren't always separate. What did Vladimir get out of their arrangement that lead him to agree to be her husband-of-convenience? (Note: Googling indicates that their relationship was not exactly the business agreement that this book would lead one to think - Vladimir had some issues, and that was more likely why Sophie left him. I can see why it makes sense to leave all of that out!)
* Why did Sophie travel to Germany for university if she wasn't allowed to enroll in the university? Surely Russia also had universities that would allow her to sit in on lectures?
* Sophie lives in Russia, Germany, and Sweden. Did she speak all those languages? Was that common?
* What exactly are partial differential equations? An author's note at the end says "A PDE defines the rules about how something changes. It's solution is a function that matches any numerical input to the correct output." That doesn't really tell me much. In a sense, ALL equations match input to output, right?
* What's the difference between an oval and an ellipse? (I Googled this one. It's interesting! An oval is a shape with no precise mathematical definition. An ellipse is a particular type of curve on a plane, resulting from an intersection of a cone by that plane. This all makes me even more confused by the book's assertion that Sophie discovered the cross-section of Saturn's rings "must be an oval, not an ellipse, as previously thought." Additional googling only confused me, because I found some sites that said she worked on the dynamics of Saturn's rings and whether they contained liquid or solid bodies, and other sites that do, indeed, say she determined that they were ovals symmetrical about one point. But ellipses are symmetrical about one point, too. So I don't know. I think the answer is that she did NOT prove they are NOT ellipses. it looks like Laplace theorized that the rings were made up of small particles, and Sophie expanded on that to say the particles are not liquid.)
I was saddened to see that Sophie died at the very young age of 41. She worked so very hard to be accepted in the elite world of mathematics, and only three years after winning a prestigious prize, she succumbed to pneumonia.
I realize that a picture book is a somewhat limited format and you can only hit the highlights before losing the attention of your young audience, but I still think Wallmark could have done a better job if she included more details. There's very little information about Kowalevski as a little girl - that's where I find kids are most captivated, when reading about what people were like as children, so I think Wallmark would have done well to include a few more pages on that.
I was left with a lot of questions. First of all, there's no mention of Kowalevski growing up in Russia. But suddenly, after twelve pages on Sophie's youth, we get "she wanted to go to Heidelberg University in Germany. But in order to leave Russia ..." and I had that record-screech stop-everything moment of "wait a minute. What? We were in Russia?" I guess I assumed she was Polish.
More questions:
* Was Sophie's father also a math whiz? Was he a math professor? (I Googled: he was an officer in the Russian army.)
* Why did Sophie's father wallpaper her room with his old college math notes? was it expediency? or did he already know she loved math and he wanted to encourage her? (And, if he wanted to encourage her, why did he refuse to get her a passport so she could go to Germany for university?)
* When we read that "she could substitute a line, called a chord, which connects two points on a circle" ... what was she substituting it for?? The accompanying illustration shows equations for an arc of a circle, the area of a portion of a circle calculated with the sine function, but ... frustratingly ... no equation for the chord, so I can't see what the chord is being substituted for. Grrrr I'm not a math whiz so I don't already know this. But I would like to know!
* How did Sophie find her husband, Vladimir. The text tells us "Sophie looked for a man who would agree to be her partner ..." but how did she look? Was he a neighbor? a friend of the family? her father's student?
* Exactly what kind of agreement did Sophie and Vladimir have? The book says they lead separate lives. But ... they had a daughter together, so they weren't always separate. What did Vladimir get out of their arrangement that lead him to agree to be her husband-of-convenience? (Note: Googling indicates that their relationship was not exactly the business agreement that this book would lead one to think - Vladimir had some issues, and that was more likely why Sophie left him. I can see why it makes sense to leave all of that out!)
* Why did Sophie travel to Germany for university if she wasn't allowed to enroll in the university? Surely Russia also had universities that would allow her to sit in on lectures?
* Sophie lives in Russia, Germany, and Sweden. Did she speak all those languages? Was that common?
* What exactly are partial differential equations? An author's note at the end says "A PDE defines the rules about how something changes. It's solution is a function that matches any numerical input to the correct output." That doesn't really tell me much. In a sense, ALL equations match input to output, right?
* What's the difference between an oval and an ellipse? (I Googled this one. It's interesting! An oval is a shape with no precise mathematical definition. An ellipse is a particular type of curve on a plane, resulting from an intersection of a cone by that plane. This all makes me even more confused by the book's assertion that Sophie discovered the cross-section of Saturn's rings "must be an oval, not an ellipse, as previously thought." Additional googling only confused me, because I found some sites that said she worked on the dynamics of Saturn's rings and whether they contained liquid or solid bodies, and other sites that do, indeed, say she determined that they were ovals symmetrical about one point. But ellipses are symmetrical about one point, too. So I don't know. I think the answer is that she did NOT prove they are NOT ellipses. it looks like Laplace theorized that the rings were made up of small particles, and Sophie expanded on that to say the particles are not liquid.)
I was saddened to see that Sophie died at the very young age of 41. She worked so very hard to be accepted in the elite world of mathematics, and only three years after winning a prestigious prize, she succumbed to pneumonia.
June 25, 2020
Biography of Sophie Kowalevski for elementary level readers.
Wallmark takes readers through Sophie's life from her first interest in mathematics as a child through her post doctoral studies. It was a difficult time for women as no one would allow them to take college classes or earn degrees in math. She persevered and paved the way for future women.
The information is presented well but the print is way too small.
Wallmark takes readers through Sophie's life from her first interest in mathematics as a child through her post doctoral studies. It was a difficult time for women as no one would allow them to take college classes or earn degrees in math. She persevered and paved the way for future women.
The information is presented well but the print is way too small.
June 26, 2020
An intriguing look at the life of a young woman mathematician with a lot of "firsts", including first woman to receive a doctorate in math that required original research and first woman in modern times to hold a university chair.
Wallmark's narrative nonfiction reads smoothly, making this fascinating woman come alive. Her pacing is excellent. She makes good use of short, choppy sentences in a few places to punctate her point. The text appears in chunked blocks otherwise.
Yevgenia Nayberg's artwork has an "old world" feel to it - very European. Readers are transported visually back in time to Kowalevski's world - the costumes, hair styles, facial hair styles, and color palette are strong. Book design is very intentional. It begins with the front end sheets of graph paper, changes point of view (ex. Kowalevski looking at the top at tabletop level), and includes scribbles of math formulae, words, and lines across illustrations.
Backmatter includes an Author's Note with more detailed biographical information, a discussion about the importance of Kowalevski's contributions and their relevance today, a timeline of her life (she died so early - age 41!), a selected bibliography of sources used, and ends with an explanation of the many spellings of Kowalevski's first and last names and why they were spelled differently in English.
Two quibbles. First. In discussing the three mathematical problems, the second one (imaginary numbers) threw me for a loop. It is the only time in the book where the author removes us from Kowalevski's time period when mentioning the words "wireless technology". (This could have been explained in the backmatter. I know no more about imaginary numbers now than I did before reading the book.) Second. The font used in the book has a European feel - it is a very round sans serif font. I can see why it was selected. That said, it is very small in size and very light in color (gray color?), making it difficult to read. The font used in the backmatter is much more legible - it is still sans serif, but darker and more up and down and compressed in shape. Perhaps switch the two?
Biographies of female mathematicians for young readers are rare to find, making this one incredibly important. Recommended for grades 2-5.
Wallmark's narrative nonfiction reads smoothly, making this fascinating woman come alive. Her pacing is excellent. She makes good use of short, choppy sentences in a few places to punctate her point. The text appears in chunked blocks otherwise.
Yevgenia Nayberg's artwork has an "old world" feel to it - very European. Readers are transported visually back in time to Kowalevski's world - the costumes, hair styles, facial hair styles, and color palette are strong. Book design is very intentional. It begins with the front end sheets of graph paper, changes point of view (ex. Kowalevski looking at the top at tabletop level), and includes scribbles of math formulae, words, and lines across illustrations.
Backmatter includes an Author's Note with more detailed biographical information, a discussion about the importance of Kowalevski's contributions and their relevance today, a timeline of her life (she died so early - age 41!), a selected bibliography of sources used, and ends with an explanation of the many spellings of Kowalevski's first and last names and why they were spelled differently in English.
Two quibbles. First. In discussing the three mathematical problems, the second one (imaginary numbers) threw me for a loop. It is the only time in the book where the author removes us from Kowalevski's time period when mentioning the words "wireless technology". (This could have been explained in the backmatter. I know no more about imaginary numbers now than I did before reading the book.) Second. The font used in the book has a European feel - it is a very round sans serif font. I can see why it was selected. That said, it is very small in size and very light in color (gray color?), making it difficult to read. The font used in the backmatter is much more legible - it is still sans serif, but darker and more up and down and compressed in shape. Perhaps switch the two?
Biographies of female mathematicians for young readers are rare to find, making this one incredibly important. Recommended for grades 2-5.
September 10, 2020
Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics is a children's picture book written by Laurie Wallmark and illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg. It centers on the first woman to receive a doctorate in mathematics.
Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya was a Russian mathematician who made noteworthy contributions to analysis, partial differential equations and mechanics. She was a pioneer for women in mathematics around the world – the first woman to obtain a doctorate in mathematics, the first woman appointed to a full professorship in Northern Europe, and one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor.
Wallmark's text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and informative. Wallmark relates Kowalevski's extraordinary story, showcasing her persistence and describing her landmark achievements in the field of partial differential equations, including her Kowalevski Property, which mathematically describes the path of a spinning top. Backmatter includes informative endnotes of Kowalevski's mathematical career and life. Nayberg's deep-toned, Chagall-esque illustrations depict Kowalevski’s obstacles and triumphs, and portray the paths traced by spinning tops through the determined mathematician's numeric dreams.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. As a child, Sophie Kowalevski was fascinated by the secret language of calculus. However, born in 1850, she faced extensive obstacles to becoming a professional mathematician – she had to seek private instruction and find a university willing to accept her thesis.
All in all, Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics is an inspiring choice for budding feminists, explorers, historians, and scientists.
Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya was a Russian mathematician who made noteworthy contributions to analysis, partial differential equations and mechanics. She was a pioneer for women in mathematics around the world – the first woman to obtain a doctorate in mathematics, the first woman appointed to a full professorship in Northern Europe, and one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor.
Wallmark's text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and informative. Wallmark relates Kowalevski's extraordinary story, showcasing her persistence and describing her landmark achievements in the field of partial differential equations, including her Kowalevski Property, which mathematically describes the path of a spinning top. Backmatter includes informative endnotes of Kowalevski's mathematical career and life. Nayberg's deep-toned, Chagall-esque illustrations depict Kowalevski’s obstacles and triumphs, and portray the paths traced by spinning tops through the determined mathematician's numeric dreams.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. As a child, Sophie Kowalevski was fascinated by the secret language of calculus. However, born in 1850, she faced extensive obstacles to becoming a professional mathematician – she had to seek private instruction and find a university willing to accept her thesis.
All in all, Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics is an inspiring choice for budding feminists, explorers, historians, and scientists.
January 21, 2021
Pretty good biography of Kowalevski! I thought it did a good job explaining the basic ideas of the top mechanics problem and also talking about partial differential equations in general. And the math depicted in the illustrations throughout the book is relevant to at least the types of things Kowalevski did; it's not generic math or always the same.
Some quibbling (I really liked the book, I promise!):
Mathematically, the main miss was the mention of imaginary numbers. This isn't particularly related to the theoretical math work that Kowalevski did for her doctoral work -- she worked on elliptic integrals! -- and it's introducing a concept that the book audience probably isn't familiar with. It is a decent example of something being developed in a pure math context and then having a lot of applied uses later (not just the wireless communication application mentioned and depicted...), but that part's not really necessary here, either.
The descriptions of applications of top dynamics in the endnotes are... questionable. These are all rigid body motion! Some of them have aspects of precession, or even precession under only gravity (but only some of them). But I'm pretty sure they aren't Kovalevskaya tops?
Some quibbling (I really liked the book, I promise!):
Mathematically, the main miss was the mention of imaginary numbers. This isn't particularly related to the theoretical math work that Kowalevski did for her doctoral work -- she worked on elliptic integrals! -- and it's introducing a concept that the book audience probably isn't familiar with. It is a decent example of something being developed in a pure math context and then having a lot of applied uses later (not just the wireless communication application mentioned and depicted...), but that part's not really necessary here, either.
The descriptions of applications of top dynamics in the endnotes are... questionable. These are all rigid body motion! Some of them have aspects of precession, or even precession under only gravity (but only some of them). But I'm pretty sure they aren't Kovalevskaya tops?
January 15, 2021
This has multiple benefits before even opening the cover.
Laurie Wallmark is an author who incorporates extensive and deep research into compelling storytelling about lives that are inspiring and relatively unknown, or known only to narrow audiences.
Yevgenia Nayberg is an illustrator who embeds informative details into intriguing scenes and spreads that pull readers into the lives and emotions of amazing characters. From the cover alone I was eager to meet this obvious clever (and attentive) Sophie, figure out her reactionship to the semi-familiar formulas in the background, and cheer for her journey to becoming QUEEN OF MATHEMATICS!
The interior did not disappoint, and I wish that Sophie's story had been available to me as a child who loved and excelled at math, but found no joy in it.
With text and information that is targeted at older/established readers, I'm urging families and teachers of earlier ages to read this aloud and share it, laying down a foundation of ways that math (even investigational/experimental math) can offer a fascinating future for everyone of any gender.
Laurie Wallmark is an author who incorporates extensive and deep research into compelling storytelling about lives that are inspiring and relatively unknown, or known only to narrow audiences.
Yevgenia Nayberg is an illustrator who embeds informative details into intriguing scenes and spreads that pull readers into the lives and emotions of amazing characters. From the cover alone I was eager to meet this obvious clever (and attentive) Sophie, figure out her reactionship to the semi-familiar formulas in the background, and cheer for her journey to becoming QUEEN OF MATHEMATICS!
The interior did not disappoint, and I wish that Sophie's story had been available to me as a child who loved and excelled at math, but found no joy in it.
With text and information that is targeted at older/established readers, I'm urging families and teachers of earlier ages to read this aloud and share it, laying down a foundation of ways that math (even investigational/experimental math) can offer a fascinating future for everyone of any gender.
January 23, 2020
Sophie Kowalevski was a true pioneer, overcoming barriers at every stage of her journey at a time when women were not permitted in universities. Her goal: to study advanced mathematics, and to contribute her brilliant solutions. She was relentless and ultimately successful, winning the respect of other mathematicians and physicists, proving that women deserved a place in this field.
Laurie Wallmark tackles a complex subject in this biography; her explanations are clear and interesting. We learn about Sophie's life, from her childhood to her appointment as a professor. Her love of mathematics and her creative solutions are matched by her dedication and her refusal to accept no as an answer.
Laurie Wallmark tackles a complex subject in this biography; her explanations are clear and interesting. We learn about Sophie's life, from her childhood to her appointment as a professor. Her love of mathematics and her creative solutions are matched by her dedication and her refusal to accept no as an answer.
May 22, 2020
No one will stop me; I will forge ahead to achieve my goals. This is what I believe to be the theme of this book. Sophie manifested perseverance, determination, and resilience throughout her life, which led to her becoming the first woman to earn a doctorate in math, being appointed to a full professorship at a university in Northern Europe, and solving “the spinning top problem.” Laurie Wallmark mentions such details about Sophie as her childhood bedroom wall covered with her father’s math problems (he ran out of wallpaper) and a marriage of convenience (she needed a man’s permission to get a passport and study abroad). Despite the pervasive sexism Sophie endured during her career, she prevailed, because she knew “that women plus math added up to a powerful equation.”
October 22, 2022
Ahhhh! The font!!! There is no way anyone is ever going to be able to use this as a group read aloud. The font is so small, and the words and lines are so close together! I actually put off reading this to my kids for four days because of the terrible font. I'm glad I finally read it though, because it was quite a nice story. My only complaint about the content was that we never had any clues to the time period of the book until the end notes when it said she was born in 1850, and the location wasn't mentioned until the 6th 2-page spread where we found out all of this had been taking place in Russia. It would have been great to know these things upfront, because it helps the reader understand things like why they 'didn't even allow women to set foot on campus.'
March 16, 2020
Prior to reading this book, I had never heard of Sophie Kowalevski. But with Laurie Wallmark's engaging writing and Yevgenia Nayberg incredible illustrations, Sophie is someone I won't forget. Her brilliant mind and passion for mathematics led her to become a celebrated and accomplished mathematician and role model for women in math and science. This wasn't an easy path. As a woman, she faced discrimination. She had to work hard to prove that she deserved to attend university, earn her doctorate, and be paid as a college professor. Sophie's story will inspire young readers to follow their dreams, regardless of obstacles that may be in their way.
September 6, 2020
I was unfamiliar with Sophie Kowalevski and her accomplishments before I read this picture-book biography by Laurie Wallmark and Yevgenia Nayberg. I am also unfamiliar with the mathematical equations behind her accomplishments. Turns out, as a lay person, I was in good hands with Wallmark's deft storytelling that not only shone a light on the sexism Kowalevski faced with determination, but her drive to accomplish her goals. This is an inspiring biography that will introduce elementary-aged readers to an important woman and her discoveries. It's a great additional to STEAM studies as well as women's history.
January 18, 2021
Nice biography of Kovalevsky.
Wish the font were heavier -- it's so light it's hard to read.
When describing the 3 results in 3 areas she wrote up for her second thesis, it says one was in pure math and then says something about imaginary numbers. I think that was confusing. Her result had nothing to do with imaginary numbers and the audience for this book probably doesn't know imaginary numbers either, so comparing things to imaginary numbers doesn't help. I also kind of resent the statement that pure math is something with no application now but we find an application later. Pure math is pure math. Sometimes an application is found, but that's not guaranteed and not really the point.
Wish the font were heavier -- it's so light it's hard to read.
When describing the 3 results in 3 areas she wrote up for her second thesis, it says one was in pure math and then says something about imaginary numbers. I think that was confusing. Her result had nothing to do with imaginary numbers and the audience for this book probably doesn't know imaginary numbers either, so comparing things to imaginary numbers doesn't help. I also kind of resent the statement that pure math is something with no application now but we find an application later. Pure math is pure math. Sometimes an application is found, but that's not guaranteed and not really the point.
October 7, 2020
Copyright Year: 2020
Theme(s): Women, Math, History
This biography on the "Queen of Mathematics" Sophie Kowalevski is an interesting picture book that may be inaccessible to a lot of younger students, especially those who are not aware of the historical significance of her being the "first" of many things. But I think this can be used as a good primer into a history or social studies unit as long as you discuss with students about why her life is so significant and important. Again, this might be hard because of the time period and history standards/curriculum, but it's not impossible.
Theme(s): Women, Math, History
This biography on the "Queen of Mathematics" Sophie Kowalevski is an interesting picture book that may be inaccessible to a lot of younger students, especially those who are not aware of the historical significance of her being the "first" of many things. But I think this can be used as a good primer into a history or social studies unit as long as you discuss with students about why her life is so significant and important. Again, this might be hard because of the time period and history standards/curriculum, but it's not impossible.
October 20, 2020
I can’t recommend this book enough – it is inspiring, powerful, moving, beautifully written and complete with stunning illustrations. Aimed toward the older end of the picture book audience, I’d recommend that both teachers and parents add this to their shelves. It is the true story of Sophie Kowalevski, a brilliant mathematician and a talented writer, who was the first women to receive a doctorate in mathematics. This is a story of determination, hard work, following your dreams and not letting anyone or anything stand in your way.
November 23, 2023
This picture book biography is so terrific at describing mathematician Sophie Kowalevski's career path, I almost think it needs to be in elementary school libraries, middle school libraries, and high school libraries. Each age can learn something from what the woman accomplished.
Honestly, the picture book biographies of female mathematicians out there just astonish. Kudos to everyone involved in the creation of this book. The only thing I would change is the typeface as it is is so soft, it would be hard to read the type in a story time.
Honestly, the picture book biographies of female mathematicians out there just astonish. Kudos to everyone involved in the creation of this book. The only thing I would change is the typeface as it is is so soft, it would be hard to read the type in a story time.
February 1, 2020
I was blown away by the this book. Laurie Wallmark found such an interesting perspective for this story that will intrigue children and adults alike. I was inspired, I felt with Sophie, and I even learned new things about math, and I’m a math teacher! And the cherry on top? Yevgenia Nayberg’s art really brings Laurie’s words to life. The images she’s created have a magical way of making me feel like I’m there in the story with Sophie Kowalevski.
A must-read for all!
A must-read for all!
February 8, 2020
Children and adults alike will learn from this charming picture book. Laurie Wallmark tells Sophie Kowalevski's story in such an engaging way that even those who can't stand math will love the tale of Sophie's determination and triumph in the face of sexist obstacles. The back matter is terrific as well, and adds some fascinating tidbits about Sophie's life. But the bottom line is this: "Women plus math added up to a powerful equation." What could be better than that?
February 17, 2020
What a stunning and inspiring book! Sophie Kowalevski is indeed a role model for many. I have a degree in Math and I draw for a living, so this book has a special place in my heart. The illustration in this book is breathtaking and the style really elevates the story. I recommend this book and I believe the story of Sophie can inspire our young readers. Sophie is a role model who showed us that we need to fight for our dreams and then the impossible can be possible!
March 29, 2020
I love reading picture book biographies because they introduce me to people I had never heard of, like Sophie Kowalevski. Yevgenia’s engaging illustrations and Wallmark's words capture Kowalevski’s brilliance and passion for mathematics. In her lifetime, society had low expectations for women, but Kowalevski proved she was worthy of an education and a career in academia. And she opened the door for other women in math and science. This story has an empowering message, especially for girls.
April 6, 2020
This is a wonderful tale of passion and persistence. Wallmark uses the throughline of Kowalevski's attempts to solve equations describing the motion of a spinning top (a concept accessible to young readers). Wallmark's backmatter explains the concept (known as the solid body rotation problem) masterfully, even giving readers applications to everyday life. Meanwhile, Nayberg's illustrations are beautifully filled with the math that made Sophie Kowalevski queen.
October 31, 2020
This is an exceptional book about an inspiring woman - Sophie Kowalevski was determined from a young age to solve various mathematical problems - including the spinning top problem - and she persisted until she found a way. Her motto, "Say what you know, do what you must, come what may," paved the way for her genius. Back matter adds extra enrichment. A must have for home and classroom collections.
May 20, 2023
Portraying a smart and driven woman pursuing her passions even under scrutiny of society, this book sets a good model to inspire young readers to be inspired by the world and pursue different things. The book touches on the difficulties and victories of Sophie Kowalevski. I loved how the idea of math and science integrate into the illustrations. The backgrounds and illustrations are beautiful and imaginative but still feature the math and ideas that Sophie had.
January 18, 2020
NUMBERS IN MOTION: SOPHIE KOWALEVSKI, QUEEN OF MATHEMATICS by Laurie Wallmark (CRESTON) is an inspiring look at a pioneering woman who never took “no” as the final answer. Written in a clear and engaging manner, the positive messages of never giving up and having faith in your own abilities are great lessons for the classroom and beyond.
February 22, 2020
Exploring the persistence and brilliance of Sophie Kowalevski that not only allowed her to succeed, but excel, in the male-dominated field of mathematics, Laurie weaves Sophie's personal moto - “Say what you know, do what you must, come what may” - through her many accomplishments. Some of which are still being used today. It's a great book for inspiring anyone to fight for their goal.
March 3, 2020
From spinning tops to planets, calculus to trigonometry, (and more beyond my skillset), Sophie did wonders with numbers. She tackled the toughest problems, times three, and wouldn’t be pushed aside by men. For all those math lovers out there, here’s a tale of perseverance, ingenuity, and a woman who blazed her own trail, astounding everyone along the way.
March 25, 2020
Wallmark’s nonfiction picture book biography highlights a lesser-known woman in history who was the first woman to receive a doctorate in mathematics. We see Sophie’s determination and perseverance during a time period when women weren’t allowed to attend university, teach, or even receive higher degrees. But Sophie did. This speaks volumes to girls today.
June 16, 2020
This is a wonderful story for elementary school children interested in learning more about women in math and science fields. Sophie Kowaleski was a brilliant mathemetician and trail-blazer for generations to come. Her story shows what one person can do to advance our collective knowledge and bring about opportunities for all.
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