Solving Puzzles: Two Powerhouse Biographies

 

PEACHTREE, 2024

These two picture book biographies celebrate people who solved important puzzles. One's name is a household word, the other is less familiar. 

ERNO RUBIK AND HIS MAGIC CUBE is written by Kerry Aradhya and illustrated by Kara Kramer.  This biography portrays the very bright young man, who, even as a boy, pursued (AND SOLVED) puzzles of every kind, especially manipulative ones. What's more, he reveled in making up new puzzles of his own. 

The text is straightforward and the illustrations are vibrant, cartoon-style, focused on his activities and materials as described. They are especially helpful in allowing me to understand the actual stages of development of the famous RUBIK'S CUBE and how it works. I can clearly recall when I first met  this seemingly magical and IMPOSSIBLE puzzle (trust me, not YouTube clips, it cannot be solved!). Advertising was everywhere, adults and kids alike responded in one of several ways: obsessing (as kids now do with digital screens to reach new levels), or tossing it aside after multiple failed attempts. Most functioned somewhere between those reactions, periodically returning to it without managing to reach success. That last range was my turf. 

Testing in my younger years indicated that I have excellent 3-D assembly skills. Years of putting together cheap furniture has proven that to be true. Even so, the challenging mechanism that makes the cubes actually work remains a puzzle to me. Other, likely younger, minds could well "get it" better than I do after reading and examining this book! It remains impressive to me, and Rubik himself is even more impressive. 

CAMERON KIDS, 2024

ELSE B. IN THE SEA: The Woman Who Painted the Wonders of the Deep is written by Jeanne Walker Harvey and illustrated by Melodie Stacey. When a notable deep-water scientist recognized that the colors and residents of life in the deep were quite different from at the surface. Life-forms he observed there were mesmerizingly unusual and appealing. He sought an artist who might capture what he alone was seeing.

New Yorker Else B. was already an award-winning and famous painter while still a young woman. She took on the challenge and began preparing both her artistic approach to painting the ocean and its contents. In 1930, the technology for deep water exploration required that she descend while wearing a heavy helmet, attached to a tube that pumped air from the boat above her on the surface. 

Another way she prepared was to identify art materials that could effectively be used underwater. She began with a steel pencil on a zinc plate. She also trained not to tilt her head while sketching underwater in the helmet, or water would rush in and she could drown. Soon she experimented with ways to paint underwater. Else also sketched and painted creatures from the deep after they were caught and brought to shore. She had to work quickly before the normal processes of death would change the actual colors of the subject. Their shared discoveries and depictions included unknown fish and other living things that had never been identified before. 

This was during the first half of the 1930s, when the depression had paralyzed people in poverty and sadness. The paintings of this remarkably unseen world were uplifting and published widely, giving people diversion and a lift in spirits. End paper maps and two pages of detailed backstory/science include a photo of Else B. at work in her home studio, using the resources from the field.

It's interesting that the scientist, Beebe, was treated dismissively by some because he employed and supported several women scientists in his work. At the time, women were considered to have less expertise, especially in sciences, and regardless of their training or experience. 

These two biographies are wonderful in their focus on individuals who deserve more attention, and both demonstrate remarkable persistence at their challenges. Both provide entertaining text and images with "did you know...?" engagement from young readers likely to follow. Take a close look, as these two folks didm with amazing results!