The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice: How to Discover a Shape
By Amy Alznauer
Illustrators
Illustrated by Anna Bron
Edition
By Amy Alznauer
Hardcover edition
Publisher Candlewick Imprint Candlewick ISBN9781536229479
The Five Sides of Marjorie Rice: How to Discover a Shape
21.24
SKU
9781536229479J
Ablaze with pattern and color, this ebullient picture book biography celebrates the intersection of art and science—through the life and lens of an extraordinary amateur mathematician.
When Marjorie Rice was a little girl in Roseburg, Oregon, in the 1930s, she saw patterns everywhere. Swimming in the river, her body was a shape in the water, the water a shape in the hills, the hills a shape in the sky. Some shapes, fitted into a rectangle or floor tilings, were so beautiful they made her long to be an artist. Marjorie dreamed of studying art and geometry, perhaps even solving the age-old “problem of five” (why pentagons don’t fit together the way shapes with three, four, or six sides do). But when college wasn’t possible, she pondered and explored all through secretarial school, marriage, and parenting five children, until one day, while reading her son’s copy of Scientific American, she learned that a subscriber had discovered a pentagon never seen before. If a reader could do it, couldn’t she? Marjorie studied all the known pentagons, drew a little five-sided house, and kept pondering. She’d done it! And she’d go on to discover more pentagonal tilings and whole new classes of tessellations. In this visually wondrous tribute, Anna Bron’s intricate art teems with patterns, including nods to M. C. Escher, and radiates the thrill of one woman’s discovery, playfully inviting readers to approach geometry through art—and art through geometry. Back matter offers more on the story of five and suggestions on how to discover a shape.
When Marjorie Rice was a little girl in Roseburg, Oregon, in the 1930s, she saw patterns everywhere. Swimming in the river, her body was a shape in the water, the water a shape in the hills, the hills a shape in the sky. Some shapes, fitted into a rectangle or floor tilings, were so beautiful they made her long to be an artist. Marjorie dreamed of studying art and geometry, perhaps even solving the age-old “problem of five” (why pentagons don’t fit together the way shapes with three, four, or six sides do). But when college wasn’t possible, she pondered and explored all through secretarial school, marriage, and parenting five children, until one day, while reading her son’s copy of Scientific American, she learned that a subscriber had discovered a pentagon never seen before. If a reader could do it, couldn’t she? Marjorie studied all the known pentagons, drew a little five-sided house, and kept pondering. She’d done it! And she’d go on to discover more pentagonal tilings and whole new classes of tessellations. In this visually wondrous tribute, Anna Bron’s intricate art teems with patterns, including nods to M. C. Escher, and radiates the thrill of one woman’s discovery, playfully inviting readers to approach geometry through art—and art through geometry. Back matter offers more on the story of five and suggestions on how to discover a shape.
Author's note. "Is the Story of Five Over?" "How to Discover a Shape."Â Select bibliography. Photographs of Marjorie Rice. "About the illustrations." Full-color digital illustrations.
|
Standard MARC Records Cover Art |
Biography Elementary Plus (Grades 1-4)
Biography Elementary Plus
Biography Elementary Plus (Grades 1-4)
For Grades 1-4
This 14 book collections offers beginning readers fascinating biographies and compelling personal stories that provide a view into history or perspective on the issues of our times.
14 books per Year
$297.36 per Year
Interests
Biographies, Nonfiction, Science/STEAM
Related Products
-
Just a Girl: A True Story of World War IIBiography Elementary Plus
March 2022
POTENTIALLY SENSITIVE AREAS
Discrimination: Racial Insensitivity/Racism,Discrimination: Religious,Language: Infrequent Use,Language: Mild Language,Violence: War/Harsh Realities of War
21.24
-
Sharice's Big VoiceBiography Elementary Plus
May 2021
POTENTIALLY SENSITIVE AREAS
Discrimination: Racial Insensitivity/Racism
17.55
-
On the Corner of Chocolate Avenue: How Milton Hershey Brought ...Biography Elementary Plus
December 2022
21.24
