Megan Reid (1)

Author Megan Reid and illustrator Aaliya Jaleel tell the story of Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman, and the first person of Iranian descent, to win the Fields Medal for mathematics, in this lovely picture-book biography. Preferring storytelling and art to math as a young person, Maryam eventually discovered the beauty of this previously despised discipline when she was introduced to geometry, which seemed to her to tell a story of its own. Together with her friend Roya, she threw herself into mathematics, winning honors at a number of international competitions for young people. Eventually, Mirzakhani emigrated to the United States, where she attended graduate school at Harvard, and became a professor of mathematics. In 2014 she became the first woman and first Iranian to win the Fields Medal. Sadly, not long after, in 2017, she died of breast cancer. The book concludes with an author's note, a timeline, and a list of further sources...

I had never heard of Maryam Mirzakhani before picking up Maryam's Magic: The Story of Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, and am glad to have that gap in my knowledge rectified, as I always appreciate stories of groundbreaking people, men or women, who do great things. I found the story here particularly interesting, because it reminded me of my own childhood dislike of mathematics, and how the only class in the subject that I ever enjoyed was the one devoted to geometry and geometric proofs. It was therefore easy for me to identify with Mirzakhani, and the route she found into the larger world of mathematics. I also greatly appreciated that Mirzakhani was a person who was equally at home in the world of storytelling and art and that of math, as we often forget the links between the two, and treat them as if they were from two wholly discrete worlds - the Humanities and Science. As someone intrigued by E.O. Wilson's concept of consilience - that the humanities and science are not so different, and might be united and synthesized into one body of knowledge - I found this quality of Mirzakhani's quite appealing. The accompanying artwork from Jaleel, created digitally, is colorful and appealing, and enhanced my appreciation of the story.

If I had any critique to make of the book, it is that I didn't come away with a very clear understanding of its subject's actual mathematical concepts and theories. This may be partly (or mostly) owing to my own deficiencies in the subject, but I would have welcomed a rear note with more details, in this respect. Author Megan Reid confesses that she is no mathematician herself, so if this was beyond her, the publisher should have hired someone to draft such an explanation, making it suitable for younger children. Leaving this critique aside, I found this one both informative and entertaining, and would recommend it to young math lovers, or picture-book readers who enjoy stories of people who achieve great things.… (plus d'informations)

Maryam Mirzakhani was an Iranian-born mathematician and a professor of mathematics. In 2005, as a result of her research, she was honored in Popular Science's fourth annual "Brilliant 10" in which she was acknowledged as one of the top ten young minds who have pushed their fields in innovative directions.

Maryam was born on May 12, 1977 in Tehran, Iran, where she lived before moving to the U.S. to attend graduate school at Harvard University.

She discovered her passion for math in middle school. As a young girl, she always loved “to scribble and color the worlds she imagined. . . . Together, her art and stories made magic.” She wanted to be a famous writer when she grew up. But then, at age twelve, she was introduced to geometry, and suddenly she found a new passion. The author writes:

“Maryam dreamed of magical shapes: they looked like bulging light bulbs and endless figure eights and layers and layers of doughnuts. She made up fantastic tales about them. . . . Maryam came to love these number stories like she loved the characters from her favorite books.”

By high school she was participating in the International Mathematical Olympiad, winning gold medals in 1994 and 1995. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Sharif University in Tehran and in 1999 headed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, for graduate study at Harvard. She received her doctorate in 2004 for her “exceptionally creative, highly original thesis” on geodesics, or curves representing the shortest path between two points in a surface. (The quote is from the citation accompanying the Leonard M and Eleanor B Blumenthal Award for the Advancement of Research in Pure Mathematics for her thesis.)

From 2004-2008 Maryam was an assistant professor of mathematics at Princeton University. In 2008 she became a full professor at Stanford University.

In 2014, Mirzakhani was honored with the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in mathematics. In so doing, she became both the first, and to date, the only woman and the first Iranian to be honored with the award.

Maryam described herself as a "slow" mathematician, saying that "you have to spend some energy and effort to see the beauty of math." To solve problems, she would draw doodles on sheets of paper and write mathematical formulas around the drawings. Her daughter Anahita described her mother's work as “painting.”

Maryam declared:

"I don't have any particular recipe [for developing new proofs] ... It is like being lost in a jungle and trying to use all the knowledge that you can gather to come up with some new tricks, and with some luck, you might find a way out."

In addition she made use of her passion and talent for drawing and writing. Reid writes, “She crafted mathematical formulas as if she were plotting the twists and turns of a suspenseful novel.”

On July 14, 2017, Mirzakhani died of breast cancer at the age of 40.

Reid observes:

“Maryam’s magic wand math helped people all over the world. Astronauts could plot safer courses for their rocket ships. Meteorologists could predict weather patterns with more speed and accuracy. Doctors could understand how dangerous diseases grew and spread.”

The author concludes with a Note, in which she writes about how she became inspired by Maryam’s story. It reminded her, she said, that “none of us is just one thing. Maryam was a storyteller who was also a mathematical genius.” She adds:

“There are entire universes of talents and skills, and just because you love one thing dearly doesn’t mean you can’t excel at another. In fact, combining them might be the ingredient that helps you think, imagine, and achieve like no one else can.”

Following the Author’s Note there is a timeline and list of more resources to learn about Maryam and her work.

Illustrator Aaliya Jaleel has created bright and pleasing pictures that include representations of mathematical formulas and that reflect Jaleel's background in animation.

Evaluation: I love to see Maryam Mirzakhani and her achievements becoming better known, even if the specifics of her mathematical concepts are beyond the suggested reading group of age 5 and up (and probably beyond most adults). I also really like the author’s message about how each person’s unique interests can combine to yield outcomes never before imagined - a good response to kids who fear there is nothing new to contribute.… (plus d'informations)

This story of the great athlete and pathbreaker Althea Gibson, born in 1927, begins provocatively:

“The championships at Wimbledon, England, were where the most famous tennis athletes in the world competed to be the best.
Sharp white collars.
Sharp white pleats.
Sharp white lines.
But in 1940s Harlem, the quickest, tallest, most fearless athlete was Althea Gibson.”

We then learn how, while growing up in Harlem, Althea played stickball, basketball, and paddle tennis with anyone she could, and was always the best. She heard about a place where blacks could play tennis - the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club, and the managers let her get lessons in exchange for doing odd jobs around the club.

But as the author points out:

“Clubs like the Cosmopolitan were rare. Who could challenge Althea when she had already beat everyone there?”

The author does not include the fact that Althea’s big break occurred when two African American physicians offered her a home, secondary schooling, tennis instruction, and the encouragement and financial support to realize her potential. Gibson lived with one of the families in Wilmington, North Carolina during the school year and spent the summer perfecting her tennis game on the other's backyard tennis court in Lynchburg, Virginia. She went on to win the all-black American Tennis Association (ATA) women's singles ten years in a row (1947 – 1956), establishing herself as the best black woman tennis player.

The author does say in her back matter, however, that Althea received extraordinary support from other women of all backgrounds. For example, in 1950, white tennis champion Alice Marble declared in American Lawn Tennis magazine:

"[Gibson] is not being judged by the yardstick of ability but by the fact that her pigmentation is somewhat different.”

It was largely owing to Marble's influence that the invitations started coming in, and Althea entered Wimbledon in 1951, becoming the first African American to play there. She lost at first, but she was no quitter: “‘The more I am beaten, the more I will learn,’ she said.”

She traveled the world, and in France, she became the first black person to win a Grand Slam. But Althea had set her sights on Wimbledon, and in 1957 she did it: she became the first black person - man or woman - to win a championship at Wimbledon. (She also won the women’s doubles championship later in the day.) She won again in 1958. Best of all, the author writes, back in New York that summer they threw Althea a ticker-tape parade:

“They cheered loudly for the quickest, tallest, most fearless girl Harlem had ever seen.”

Illustrators of other picture books about tennis champions have stuck to the somewhat uninteresting colors and scenes of tennis matches. Laura Freeman, however, uses bold colors and cleverly informative backgrounds in her double-page spreads not only capturing Althea’s spunky personality but adding historical details that enhance the narrative.

An author’s note provides additional information on Gibson’s life and detail about both her tennis and pro golf careers. (She was the first black woman to play golf professionally as part of the Ladies Professional Golf Association.) The end matter also includes a timeline of important dates in Althea’s life and a short bibliography of recommended reading. The recommended audience is age 6 and up.

Evaluation: The author accentuates the dedication and perseverance of Gibson, but it took more than skill alone for Gibson to succeed. Reid elides over all the help Gibson received from sympathetic people of both races to help realize her dreams. Rather, she emphasizes the message that determination and indefatigability, certainly important ingredients for Gibson's accomplishments, can result in success, even when it seems like the whole world is against you.… (plus d'informations)