“Srinivas Ramanujan: Friend of Numbers”
Maths, at the best of times, is a tough discipline to teach children. Primarily because it is a science with many sub-branches that are clubbed together under one umbrella term — mathematics, and taught to generations and generations of school kids. It is taught in a manner that is befuddling for more students. Teachers are often heard to say that this aspect we can only introduce in another semester or another year. None of it makes sense. Maths is a discipline which has its own internal beauty and the numbers genuinely create stunning patterns. Most often it is sheer hard work that helps a child understand the subject. And then comes along a rare kid like Srinivas Ramanujan who was gifted, a mathematical genius. He lived and breathed maths and numbers. It was the single source of his joy. He cared for little else. All this is brought out simply and gently in a well-told story about the man in Srinivas Ramanujan: Friend of Numbers by poet and children’s author, Priya Narayanan. The illustrations by Satwik Gade complement the text perfectly. No wonder this book won the Neev Book Award 2020.
Fabulous stuff!
12 Jan 2021
No Comments