The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity: A Tale of the Genius Ramanujan

A young mathematical genius from India searches for the secrets hidden inside numbers -- and for someone who understands him -- in this gorgeous picture-book biography.

A mango . . . is just one thing. But if I chop it in two, then chop the half in two, and keep on chopping, I get more and more bits, on and on, endlessly, to an infinity I could never ever reach.

In 1887 in India, a boy named Ramanujan is born with a passion for numbers. He sees numbers in the squares of light pricking his thatched roof and in the beasts dancing on the temple tower. He writes mathematics with his finger in the sand, across the pages of his notebooks, and with chalk on the temple floor. "What is small?" he wonders. "What is big?" Head in the clouds, Ramanujan struggles in school -- but his mother knows that her son and his ideas have a purpose. As he grows up, Ramanujan reinvents much of modern mathematics, but where in the world could he find someone to understand what he has conceived?

Author Amy Alznauer gently introduces young readers to math concepts while Daniel Miyares's illustrations bring the wonder of Ramanujan's world to life in the inspiring real-life story of a boy who changed mathematics and science forever. Back matter includes a bibliography and an author's note recounting more of Ramanujan's life and accomplishments, as well as the author's father's remarkable discovery of Ramanujan's Lost Notebook.

Author: Amy Alznauer
Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
Published: 04/14/2020
Pages: 48
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 11.20h x 8.00w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9780763690489
Audience: Ages 4-8

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.5
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 514581 / Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity: A Tale of the Genius Ramanujan


Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 01/01/2020 pg. 87
Booklist 02/01/2020 pg. 38
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2020 pg. 95
Horn Book Magazine 03/01/2020 pg. 96
Publishers Weekly 03/16/2020
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2020 - Superior,Well Above Average

About the Author
Amy Alznauer is an author of poetry, essays, and nonfiction for children. Her adult memoir Love & Salt won a Christopher Award. She is also on the mathematics faculty at Northwestern University, where she teaches calculus and number theory. She lives in Chicago.

Daniel Miyares is the author and illustrator of several books for young readers, including Night Out, Bring Me a Rock!, and Float. He is the illustrator of Little Fox in the Snow by Jonathan London. He lives in Lenexa, Kansas.