Maryam’s Magic: The Story of Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani By Megan Reid

Maryam’s Magic: The Story of Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani
by Megan Reid
Illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel
HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray

As a little girl, Maryam Mirzakhani was spellbound by stories. She loved reading in Tehran’s crowded bookstores, and at home she’d spend hours crafting her own tales on giant rolls of paper. Maryam loved school, especially her classes in reading and writing. But she did not like math. Numbers were nowhere near as interesting as the bold, adventurous characters she found in books. Until Maryam unexpectedly discovered a new genre of storytelling: In geometry, numbers became shapes, each with its own fascinating personality—making every equation a brilliant story waiting to be told. As an adult, Maryam became a professor, inventing new formulas to solve some of math’s most complicated puzzles. And she made history by becoming the first woman—and the first Iranian—to win the Fields Medal, mathematics’ highest award. Maryam’s Magic is the true story of a girl whose creativity and love of stories helped her—and the world—to see math in a new and inspiring way.

Cover image and summary via HarperCollins