“The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdős” by Deborah Heiligman
I love this book because it not only tells the story of a lesser-known figure in history, but also the story of a boy who did not fit in with the world around him. He grew up with only a passion for math, hating rules, and never being able to do anything the way he was supposed to: laundry, cooking, cleaning, even things like living in one location long-term or getting married- these things just weren’t for him. He made lots of discoveries in mathematics in his life and made many friends who would care for him and do the things he wasn’t able to do, others often calling him Uncle.
This book discusses many facets of math, namely prime numbers as that was one of his biggest obsessions. This is a valuable book when introducing prime numbers, as well as negative numbers. It is also a slight dip into neurodiversity representation (not enough for me to classify it as power-sharing but enough to be notable).
Author’s Website: Deborah Heiligman, Author of Books for Children and Young Adults
Read Aloud: https://youtu.be/8ibxwoBJR48?si=2hxniffiEsUdHyF7
